
\2$\ 



/ / O 

THE ^ 

I 

DIVINE AUTHORITY AND PERPETUAL OBLIGATION 

OF 

THE LORD'S DAY, 

ASSERTED IN 

SEVEN SERMONS, 

DELIVERED. AT THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY, 
ISLINGTON, 

IN THE MONTHS OP JULY AND AUGUST. 1830. 



BY DA3VIEL, WILSON, M. A. 

AUTHOR OF LECTURES ON THE EVIDENCES OP CHRISTIANITY, &C, 



JFfrst American Xtoftfou, 

WITH A 

RECOMMENDATORY PREFACE, BY REV. L. WOODS, D. D., 

Professor in the Theol. Sem. Andover, Ms. 



S 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY CROCKER & BREWSTER, 

47, Washington Street: 
NEW- YORK:— J. LEAVITT, 

182, Broadway. 

1831. 






\h 



d^ 



Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year one 
thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, by Crocker & Brews- 
ter, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



S..#j;&. 



RECOMMENDATORY LETTER 



ADDRESSED TO THE PUBLISHERS. 



Gent. — This volume by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, on the au- 
thority and obligation of the Lord's day, I have just received 
from a friend in England, with a request that I would recom- 
mend the publication of it here, should it appear well suited to 
be useful in addition to the excellent discussions of the same sub- 
ject by Edwards, Dwight, Humphrey, and others of our own 
country. I hand it to you as the publishers of some other invalu- 
able works of this Author, and have no hesitation in expressing 
the opinion that it is adapted to be peculiarly useful in this coun- 
try. It can hardly fail, I apprehend, to convince and satisfy every 
candid reader, of the divine authority and perpetual obli- 
gation of the lord's day. The arguments and practical in- 
culcations of which it consists, all rest on this firm foundation, 
instead of being derived from considerations of mere expediency, 
As might be reasonably expected, therefore, from a writer of such 
well known ability and piety, this work is in all respects calcu- 
lated to promote a scriptural observance of the Lord's day, and 
it appears to me singularly happy in its tendency to engage the 
feelings and affections of the reader in the duties, public and pri- 
vate, of that hallowed period, and to invest it and all its services 
with associations in the highest degree appropriate and interest- 
ing. 



IV RECOMMENDATORY LETTER. 

Much might justly be said in commendation of the plan and 
style of this volume. A glance at the summary of its contents 
will at once show such a selection of topics, such a felicity in the 
statement of them, and in their order and connection; and such 
particularity and completeness, as cannot but afford to the reader 
very great satisfaction; and in the perusal, instead of a cold, ab- 
stract and formal manner and diction, he will be engaged with a 
style and manner characterized alike by scriptural simplicity, and 
by the fervency and earnestness of a truly Christian spirit. And 
it is to be noticed and commended as alike rare and inestimable 
in such a work, that the author having exhibited his positions in 
a strong light and sustained them by suitable arguments, brings 
them, with all the sincerity and fervor of his own spirit, to bear 
on the conscience and heart. Feeling himself a solemn convic- 
tion of the truths he inculcates, and a lively sensibility to their 
claims upon the consciences and their bearings upon the charac- 
ters and destinies of men, he cannot proceed with his reader with- 
out bringing him continually to consider these claims as personal, 
and admonishing and exhorting him to yield to them an imme- 
diate and cordial obedience. To succeed in argument, and con- 
vince the understanding, does not satisfy him; he labors to gain 
the will, the affections, the whole inner and outer man. In the 
spirit of true friendship he takes his reader along with him as an 
accountable fellow-being in whom he has an interest, and to 
whom it is at once his office and happiness to do good. 

This characteristic method of the author is exhibitted with 
great advantage in his other works, and especially in his admira- 
ble volumes on the Evidences of Christianity; every page of 
which requires the reader to feel his personal interest in the ques- 
tion at issue. 

In all these hortatory and persuasive applications of his subject, 
the claims of Almighty God on the conscience and heart of man, 
are ever held conspicuously in view, in connection with man's 
accountability, and all the essential facts, doctrines, and sanctions 
of revelation. In this respect the present volume is not only 
suited to readers of every class, but worthy to be held a model to 
preachers and writers. There is an array of motives, and a ful- 
ness and faithfulness in it. which merit imitation. 



RECOMMENDATORY LETTER. V 

There is another characteristic of this work which I may be 
excused for mentioning, namely, the Christian spirit which per- 
vades it— the humility— the benevolence— the reverence of the 
Supreme Being and of his inspired teachings and requirements— 
the deep sense of the prevalence and evil of sin, and of the un- 
speakable blessings of salvation — the manifestation of faith and 
hope — the harmonious and comprehensive view which seems 
ever present to the author of all the objects, doctrines, duties, 
blessings and prospects of religion. 

The present work, without pretending to be more elaborate or 
learned on every point than some of the treatises now extant on 
the same or parts of the same subject, is, I think more comprehen- 
si ve than any of them, and has the advantage of being altogether 
of a more popular cast; and it is on this account exceedingly well 
suited to the present time. There is at this moment great need 
ofsuchawork in this country. The public measures adopted 
within two or three years for promoting a better observance of 
the Lord's day, having been directed too exclusively to the at- 
tainment of civil and secular aid, instead of relying on the appro- 
priate aids and sanctions of scriptural instruction and example, 
have failed to occasion the benefits anticipated by their zealous 
patrons; and the attention which was awakened to the subject, 
has, it is to be feared, in a great measure disappeared. There is 
therefore special occasion and necessity for a popular work like 
this, full of warmth and earnestness, establishing in a satisfactory 
manner every position, answering and obviating objections and 
difficulties and carrying home to the bosom of the reader the prac- 
tical lessons and sanctions of the subject. 

It is by the preaching and publication of sermons and essays 
like these, that the public mind is to be enlightened and a refor- 
mation promoted. There exists a lamentable want of scriptural 
knowledge and conviction on this subject. Even the religious 
portion of the community have too generally but very defective 
notions and convictions, as to the divine anthority and obligation 
of this hallowed day: and its observance depends too much on 
the authority of custom and expediency, and too little on the re- 
quirements and sanctions of revelation. 

A few passages of local application, in the admirable pastoral 
address of the author, and also near the close of the volume, the 



VI RECOMMENDATORY LETTER, 

judicious reader will readily accommodate, especially in the latter 
case, to facts and circumstances of a similar nature here. 

Most earnestly hoping that this work may be widely diffused 
through the country, and have all the influence under the divine 
blessing, which it is so well calculated to exert, 

I remain yours truly, Eleazer Lord. 
Mw York, May, 1831. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface to the American Edition, . . 13 

Pastoral Address, . . . . .21 



SERMON I. 

Genesis ii. 1 — 3, . . 40 

THE INSTITUTION OF A WEEKLY SABBATH IN PAR- 
ADISE, AND ITS CONTINUED AUTHORITY, UNTIL 
THE DELIVERY OF THE MORAL LAW. 

The importance of the subject, . . .40 

The plan of the work announced, ... 43 

The direct reasons for believing the Sabbath to have been 

instituted at the time when the sacred narrative begins, 45 
The just inferences to be drawn from them, . . 49 

Traces of the observation of a weekly rest, during* the pa- 
triarchal ages, ..... 51 
The manner in which the Sabbath was revived before the 

commencement of the mosaical economy, . 56 

Observe the extreme violence which is done to the Chris- 
tian faith, by the attempt to explain away the institution 
of the Christian Sabbath in Paradise, . . 57 

Adore and praise the almighty father of all, for the dis- 
tinct glories shed upon the day of religious repose, 59 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



SERMON II. 



Exodus xx. 8 — 11, . . 61 

THE AUTHORITY AND DIGNITY OF THE SABBATH 
UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES. 

The INSERTION OF THE LAW OF THE SABBATH into the DEC- 
ALOGUE, ...... 62 

The Sabbath appeared high and distinct above all the 

CEREMONIAL USAGES, .... 67 

The Sabbath was insisted upon by the prophets, as of 

ESSENTIAL MORAL OBLIGATION, and as DESTINED TO FORM 

A PART OF THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION, . . 72 

Let us give to the holy day of rest that prominency in our 
esteem, which Moses was instructed to give it in his dis- 
pensation, ..... 81 

Let us imbibe the spirit of love and delight in the wor- 
ship of God, which the psalms and prophets display, 82 

The awful indignation of Almighty God against the con- 
tempt of his name and his day, . . .83 

Let us imitate the heroic zeal of Ezra and Nehemiah, 
in vindicating the sanctity of the Sabbath, . 84 

Let us dread the false view of the character of God, and 
of the nature of Christianity, which are associated with 
the violation of the Lord's day, . . .85 



SERMON III. 

Mark ii. 27, 28. . . 86 

THE SABBATH VINDICATED, UNDER THE GOSPEL 
FROM PHARISAICAL AUSTERITIES, AND SET 
FORTH IN MORE THAN ITS ORIGINAL DIGNITY 
AND GLORY. 

The recognition of the ten commandments, and of the 
fourth amongst the number, which our Lord and his 
apostles make, . .... 89 

Our Lord honored the Sabbath on all occasions, and 
never violated its sanctity, . . . .92 

Nothing is abrogated under the christian dispensa- 
tion, with respect to the Sabbath, but those tem- 
porary and figurative enactments, which constituted the 
peculiarities of the Jewish age, . . 101 

The distinguishing promise of the New Testament, has 
for its object to render the duties of the Sabbath 
more delightful, and thus increases tenfold their obliga- 
tion, . . .- . . 104 



CONTENTS. IX 

Let every one yield to these accumulated proofs, . 109 

Let every one shun the ingratitude of making use of 
the compassion of our Savior to the tacit disparagement 
of the Sabbath itself, . . . 110 

We plead for the christian sabbath, for which the Holy 
Spirit is especially given, . . . . Ill 



SERMON IV 

Revelations i. 10. . . 113 

THE SABBATH TRANSFERRED BY DIVINE AUTHOR- 
ITY, FROM THE SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY OF 
THE WEEK, OR LORD'S DAY. 

The preparatory circumstances which lay a probable 
ground for the change of the day: 

1. The prominence given to the proportion of time, both at 
the first institution in Paradise, and in the wording of the 
fourth commandment, . . . 114 

2. The probability that the computation of time was lost, in 
the bondage of Egypt, .... 116 

3. The freedom and universality of the gospel dispensation, 117 

4. The word of prophecy , .... 119 

5. A complete revolution actually took place in the whole 
state of the church, ..... 120 

6. The claims which Christ advanced during his ministry, 

of legislating for the Sabbath, as its Sovereign and Lord, 123 

The MANNER IN WHICH THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 
FROM THE LAST to the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, Was 

gradually introduced by the divine authority of our 
Lord and his apostles, .... 126 

1. Our Savior, after his passion, began to introduce the ac- 
tual change tacitly and gently, by his own divine conduct, 127 

2. The first day is marked by the gift of the great promise of 
the dispensation, ..... 129 

3. The doctrine and conduct of the apostles will be found to 
bring in more decidedly the new day of the Sabbath, 130 

4. The events of God's wonderful providence completed the 
change, 5. .... . 133 

5. Ecclesiastical historians bear witness to the observation 

of the first day, ..... 135 

6. A perpetual blessing has attended, and now attends, the 
Christian Sabbath, ..... 138 



Recapitulation of the evidence that all the obligations 
that can combine to enforce a moral command upon man 
unite in the case of the Christian Sabbath, . 138 



X CONTENTS. 

Adore the wisdom and goodness of God in providing for 
man's religious repose in his first creation, . 140 

The changes in the circumstances of the law of the Sabbath, 
have sprung up from new benefits conferred on man, 141 

In proportion as the benefits of the gospel are more exalted, 
should our hearts receive the intimations of the divine 
will with more alacrity, and fulfil them with warmer 
delight, ...... 142 



SERMON V. 

Ezekiel xx. 12. . . 144 

THE PRACTICAL DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN 
SABBATH. 

Keep ever in view the great end of the institution, 147 

The public and private duties of the Sabbath, 151 

We must carry the true spirit of the Christian dis- 
pensation into these duties, • - - 158 
We must glorify God for those mighty blessings which 

ARE APPOINTED TO BE COMMEMORATED On the LORD'S 

DAT, ...... 161 

The conviction which such a discussion should fix in the 

minds of the irreligious and unconverted, 164 

May we not, all of us, discover topics of humiliation in 
the discussion? 



SERMON VI. 

Isaiah Iviii. 1, 2. . . 168 

THE UNSPEAKABLE IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 
OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH WITH THE EVILS 
OF THE OPPOSITE ABUSE. 

The observation of the Christian Sabbath is a most sacred 
compact, and the abuse of it the violation of that com- 
pact, ...... 170 

The observation of the Sabbath bears upon man's temporal 

AND SPIRITUAL WELFARE AS A FALLEN BUT ACCOUNTA- 
BLE CREATURE, ..... 172 

It includes, in fact, all the application of the chris- 
tian RELIGION AND ITS PRESERVATION IN THE WORLD, 175 

The Lord's day connects and holds together all the links 
and obligations of human society, which the violation 
of it tends to destroy, . ... 180 



CONTENTS. XI 

The observation of the Sabbath honors almighty God, and 
brings his favor and blessings upon a people; whilst 
the profanation of it provokes his highest displeasure, 183 

The excuses which men allege in extenuation of a neglect 
of the day of God, ..... 185 

Let US ENTER FULLY AND DETERMINATELY On the religious 

duty of honoring God, .... 187 



SERMON VII. . . 190 

Nehemiah xiii. 17, 18. 
THE GUILT WHICH IS CONTRACTED BY CHRISTIAN 
NATIONS IN PROPORTION AS THE LORD'S DAY IS 
OPENLY PROFANED. 

The charge of guilt against the British nation substan- 
tiated ...... 191 

The national judgments which we may too certainly 
dread, ...... 198 

The practical measures which each one may adopt to pro- 
mote a national repentance and return to God, . 201 



We have pleaded for the Sabbath because it is a means to 

certain ends, ..... 206 

Because of the unspeakable value of the soul of man, 207 
Because it appeals to the human conscience, . 208 

Because it is an indispensable preparation for the heav- 
enly blessedness, . . . . . 209 



PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



[Written by request of the Publishers.] 

The publication of the following Lectures is very 
seasonable in our country at such a time as this, 
when infidels, and even some who profess to be 
Christians, have made an open attack upon the divine 
authority of the Christian Sabbath, and used their influ- 
ence to bring it into disrepute, and when the community 
at large, and even the better part of it, have fallen into 
a criminal neglect and abuse of this divine institution. 
The subject here treated is indeed, at all times, of vital 
consequence to the Christian religion. For whatever 
may be the value of other means appointed for our 
spiritual benefit, they would have but little real efficacy, 
without the Sabbath. Even the sacred Scriptures, 
the only standard of our faith and practice, and the in- 
stitution of the gospel ministry, would turn to but small 
account, should we give up "the day which the Lord 
hath made," and so deprive ourselves of any regular 
and divinely appointed season for reading the Scrip- 
tures in private, and hearing their doctrines and pre- 
cepts explained and inculcated in public. I say a di- 
vinely appointed season. A day enjoined by the 
authority of God is manifestly required in this case; 
because no consideration of mere expediency, no civil 
or ecclesiastical decree, and no agreement made among 
2 



14 PREFACE. 

individual Christians, will be likely to bind the con- 
sciences or to regulate the actions of men. Unless the 
day of holy rest is believed to be set apart and conse- 
crated by God himself, the current of worldly business 
and pleasure will at length sweep it away even from 
the church; so that the real and ultimate question is, 
whether there shall be a Sabbath set apart by divine 
authority, or no Sabbath at all. And even if a partic- 
ular day should be voluntarily observed for religious 
purposes by individuals, or by a Christian community, 
without the belief of any divine command enjoining it; 
such a day would be very different, and its influence 
upon the minds even of good men would be very dif- 
ferent, from what it would be, if it w r ere regarded as 
an appointment of God. The same principle obtains 
here as in regard to the Scriptures. If we consider the 
Bible as a mere human production, though containing 
the true principles of morality and religion; it will 
exert but an inconsiderable influence upon us. Its doc- 
trines and precepts will have no power over our con- 
sciences. God must speak, or man will not hear. 
God must command, or man will not obey. 

We shall find all this verified in the history of Chris- 
tendom, and particularly in the history of our own 
times. Who are they that trample on the Sabbath, 
and make it subservient to their worldly pursuits? Not 
merely infidels; but the generality of those who pro- 
fess to respect the Sabbath, but do not regard it as a 
divine institution. And w T ho are they that conscien- 
tiously and faithfully perform its sacred duties, and se- 
cure its inestimable benefits? Those who look upon it 



PREFACE. 15 

as set apart for holy purposes by the authority of God. 
A proper belief, that our Creator and Sovereign re- 
quires the Sabbath to be kept holy, silences the clam- 
ors of the world, bars out vain thoughts, subdues the 
passions, diffuses a sacredness through all the hours of 
the day, and imparts a special influence to divine truth, 
whether heard in the sanctuary, or contemplated in the 
stillness of retirement. Without such a belief, the ben- 
efits naturally resulting from this divine institution, will 
not be obtained. The ministers of religion and civil 
rulers may unite their efforts to promote the observance 
of a day which is made sacred only by human author- 
ity; but they will have no prospect of success. The 
command, to "remember the Sabbath day and keep it 
holy," coming from man, is imbecile. It excites no cor- 
dial reverence. It produces no fear of transgression, 
except so far as outward, visible actions are concerned. 
No one will stand in awe of a command which is laid 
upon him by a being like himself. But the command 
to keep the Sabbath holy, coming from the Sovereign 
of the world, is clothed with power, and takes hold on 
the conscience and heart. Being the command of 
Him who is every where present, and whose searching 
eye is ever upon us, it follows us into all our secret 
ways, and has the same authority over us when we are 
removed from the notice of man, as when we are 
placed in the most public view. It is a motive which 
touches all the springs of action. 

It is therefore with good reason, that the Author of 
the following discourses takes so much pains to prove 
that the Christian Sabbath is to be regarded, not as 
founded on considerations of expediency, but as a di~ 



16 PREFACE. 

vine institution. His arguments are, in my view, en- 
tirely successful. It would be quite aside from my 
object in these prefatory remarks, to enter on a par- 
ticular examination of the reasoning contained in these 
excellent discourses, and to say whether I look upon 
every minor consideration here advanced, as altogether 
pertinent and conclusive. But I know not how any 
candid person can attentively read this work without a 
full conviction of the strength of all the prominent ar- 
guments, and the justness of the conclusion. 

But the Author does not content himself with merely 
stating arguments in support of the Sabbath. He 
abounds in the most serious and moving appeals to the 
conscience and heart. With great earnestness he urges 
the high claims of this divine institution upon the Chris- 
tian community, and upon every individual. He repre- 
sents it as "a sign of the covenant between God and man; 
a badge of our Christian profession; the acknowledge- 
ment we publicly make of the God who created, and the 
Savior who redeemed us; a chief means of that dedi- 
cation and sanctification of man to his Almighty Lord, 
which creation and redemption are designed to pro- 
duce." He clearly points out the manner in which the 
sacred day is to be observed under the gospel, the vast 
importance of observing it, and the evils of neglect, 
and urges the necessity of personal and national repen- 
tance for the violation of it. He every where speaks 
on the subject, as one who is deeply impressed with its 
paramount importance, and has experienced its high 
spiritual benefits. There is a simplicity and seriousness, 
a fervor, sincerity and devotedness in these sermons, 
which must make a salutary and lasting impression* 



PREFACE. 17 

While I have been reading them, as well as the Lectures 
of the same author on the Evidences of Christianity, 
I have repeatedly been led to say; Happy the man 
who is accustomed to cherish thoughts and feelings like 
these! And happy the people who are blessed with 
the labors of such a minister of Christ! 

While perusing these discourses I have been pressed 
with the inquiry, how any men, who wish to perpetuate 
the blessings of our civil and religious institutions, can 
overlook the importance of the Sabbath. When we 
look upon South America and Europe, we behold 
scenes of revolution, strife, carnage, and anarchy. Vari- 
ous attempts are made to introduce improvements into 
the forms of government and to promote quietness, and 
harmony, and the salutary influence of law. But these 
attempts are not successful. Things remain in the 
most ominous condition, and patriots and politicians 
know not what to do. Their wisdom fails them. Now 
why do they not see, that the cause of all these evils lies 
in the destitution of moral and religious principle in the 
mass of the community? The experiment which has so 
often been made, may be a thousand times repeated; and 
the result will be the same. No constitutions of govern- 
ment, however wisely framed; no improvement of the 
people at large in mere literature and science; no les- 
sons derived from history and experience, and no mo- 
tives addressed to personal interest or safety, can hush 
the commotions which agitate the nations; because 
none of these can subdue pride, ambition, and selfish- 
ness, make men upright and benevolent, and engage 
them in those employments which will contribute to 
2* 



IS PREFACE. 

individual and public happiness. Why are not patriots 
and legislators sensible of this? Why do they not see 
and feel, after so much light has been cast on the sub- 
ject, that the only effectual means of removing the ca- 
lamities which now afflict the nations, and of warding 
off the still more fearful evils which threaten them, is, 
the healthful influence of moral and religious prin- 
ciple, diffused through the mass of society? It is 
evident, that the same character which qualifies men to 
be happy in the world to come, will qualify them to be, 
in the highest sense, good members of civil society. 
And if civil society shall be chiefly constituted of en- 
lightened and good men, a sure foundation will be laid 
for permanent peace and prosperity. Now without 
undervaluing any of the means of human improvement, 
I hold it to be an obvious and certain truth, that the 
chief means of forming men to a good character is, the 
due observance of the Christian Sabbath; and that with- 
out this, all other means will fail. If this benevolent 
institution were rightly observed, the evils which threat- 
en our country would disappear. The remedy I pro- 
pose, is indeed simple and easy; but it is sure. And 
if the violence of ambition and party zeal and the pre- 
valence of vice and disorder should so increase, as to 
overturn our free governments, and involve us in all 
the horrors experienced by other nations; I am bold to 
predict, that not a man, no, not one individual, either 
among the rulers or the people, who conscientiously 
and faithfully keeps the Christian Sabbath, will be 
chargeable with helping to bring these dreadful evils 
upon the land; and that the whole guilt will lie at the 
door of those, who do not cordially reverence the 



PREFACE. 19 

Lord's day, and do not faithfully attend upon its holy 
and sanctifying duties. 

As to those gospel ministers, and rulers, and private 
citizens, who keep the Sabbath day holy, who diligently 
engage in its public and private services, and who use 
their influence to impress upon the minds of others the 
high obligations of this divine institution, — they ought 
to be acknowledged as true patriots; and they are en- 
titled to the warmest gratitude of the community for 
the substantial contribution they make to the public 
good. While on the other hand, every man who neg- 
lects to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, 
shows himself an enemy to the best interests of his 
country. He stands guilty of casting contempt upon 
the most effectual means which infinite wisdom has 
provided, for curing the madness of the passions, for 
checking vice, and preparing the human family for that 
quiet and pure and rational enjoyment, of which they 
are capable. 

I shall only add a few words on the means most to 
be relied upon, for promoting the due observance of 
the Sabbath. Some have relied upon the salutary 
influence of civil laws requiring the Sabbath to be treat- 
ed with respect, and forbidding, under severe penalties, 
all open violations of it. But, in my apprehension, we 
have no reason to expect, that mere civil enactments 
will ever be productive of any extensive and perma- 
nent benefit in regard to this subject, except merely as 
they afford protection to Christians in worshipping God 
according to their own consciences. 

The experiment has been often tried here, and in other 
countries; but the result has made it evident, that the 



20 PREFACE. 

great interests of morality and religion cannot safely be 
made to rest on the power of civil law. The due ob- 
servance of the Sabbath must be promoted by consid- 
erations addressed to man's reason and conscience and 
heart. These sermons, which I most devoutly wish may 
be circulated and read through the United States, sug- 
gest the only method of enforcing the sanctification of the 
Sabbath, which seems to me to promise any real success. 
Let men be addressed on the subject from the pulpit, and 
the press; and let them be addressed, as this author ad- 
dresses them, with sound argument, and with earnest and 
affectionate exhortation and entreaty; let them be address- 
ed as rational and moral and accountable beings, whose 
everlasting destiny will be fixed according as they pro- 
fane the Sabbath, or keep it holy. Let the sacredness 
of the day be inculcated upon the minds of children 
and youth, and let the faithful instructions of parents 
and teachers be accompanied and enforced by a good 
example; and let all who reverence the Sabbath lift up 
their fervent supplications to him who is the Lord of the 
Sabbath, that he would graciously interpose, and bring 
men every where to remember and love the day of 
spiritual rest: — let these and other congenial methods 
be pursued, and, with the divine blessing, it will ere 
long be seen by all men, that the objections which have 
been made against the doctrine of these discourses, 
have sprung from depravity or ignorance; that the ap- 
pointment of a sacred day is the source of immeasur- 
able good to the world, and is one of the highest mani- 
festations of divine love. 

Leonard Woods. 

Theological Seminary, 

rfndover, dpril, 1831. 



PASTORAL ADDRESS* 



My dear Friends, 

Allow me to offer you the following Discourses as 
a new year's token of my sincere regard for your wel- 
fare. It is with no feigned language that I wish you 
all the blessings of the season of Christmas. From the 
bottom of my heart do I desire and pray, that the Na- 
tivity of our Lord may be the source of joy to every one of 
you all. The incarnation and sacrifice of Jesus Christ 
is the foundation of the Christian religion; and I trust 
it is, and will be, the main object of my life and labors 
amongst you, to bring you, by the grace and blessing of 
God, to a practical obedience to this divine Savior. I 
seize therefore, with eagerness, every fit opportunity of 
addressing you both in public, and by the more familiar 
means of a pastoral letter. If I had health and time, I 
should rejoice to visit you more than I do, in the retire- 
ment of your families, and to enlarge that personal and 
friendly acquaintance, which an experience of your kind- 
ness for nearly seven years, has encouraged me to im- 
prove. But I must resign myself to the will of my heav- 
enly Master, who gives strength and opportunity to his 
servants as he deems meet. It is a consolation to me to 
reflect, that my labors are now divided amongst so many 
able and devoted clergymen, who delight to minister to 

* A few things in the Address not so particularly suited to the circum- 
stances of America are omitted; also a few words and phrases and 
some of the minor notes in the sermons. 



22 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

you in the gospel. And I desire to be grateful for that 
measure of health, which enables me in general to take 
a share in the public duties of the church, and to devote 
myself still in various ways to your service. 

The subject to which I now would request your atten- 
tion is, as you are aware, the divine origin and perpetual 
obligation of the Lord's day — a topic so important in itself, 
and standing connected so intimately with the application 
of all the doctrines and precepts of Christianity, to our- 
selves and our families, that I trust you will permit me, 
after I have explained the occasion and plan of the work, 
to suggest some thoughts on the authority of revealed 
truth, as involved in it. 

The substance of these sermons was delivered in the 
autumn of 1827. A new and more favorable occasion of 
treating the question occurred last spring. The Lord 
Bishop of London addressed a most able and impressive 
letter on the neglect of the Lord's day, to the clergy and 
inhabitants of the diocese. Public attention was in- 
stantly awakened. I lost no time in bringing this com- 
munication before you. The authority of the divine in- 
stitution was urged, as you will remember, on the same 
Sunday, from all our pulpits; and you speedily formed an 
association for the better observance of the Christian Sab- 
bath. The rules and regulations, after having received 
the Lord Bishop's approval, were signed by nearly four 
hundred of the most respectable inhabitant housekeepers; 
and the committee and officers are now carrying into effect, 
in every kind and prudent method, consistent with the laws 
of our country, the great design. Encouraged by the pros- 
pect of these effective measures, I was induced to examine 
the whole subject more thoroughly than I had previously 
done. It grew upon my mind. I discerned more and more 
its immense importance, if we would honor God, preserve 
religion in the world, or save our own souls, and those of 
our family and neighborhood. I discovered also, as I 
thought, the sources of the more current objections; and at 
the same time their fallacy, when once the whole bearing 
of the argument from Scripture was understood. Thus I 
was led on to treat the question in detail. I delivered seven 
discourses in the months of last July and August. I was 
then so earnestly entreated to commit them to the press, that 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 23 

I have given almost all my retired time to this duty since. 
I have consulted our chief writers; have weighed again and 
again the difficulties which are alleged: and I hope I have 
succeeded in showing that, from the creation of man through 
all succeeding periods, one day in seven was appointed by 
Almighty God, as the season of special religious repose, 
and of public and private worship. I hope I have succeeded 
in showing that this appointment is essentially moral and 
immutable in its obligation, though, from the nature of the 
case, with so much of a positive character, as the deter- 
mining of the exact proportion of time demanded. I hope 
I have succeeded in showing, that our Lord never relaxed, 
nor meant to relax, the law of creation or of the fourth com- 
mandment, but only to vindicate it from the false comments 
of the Jewish doctors, and leave it in more than its origi- 
nal dignity and force. I hope I have succeeded in show- 
ing, that the day of the observation of the Sabbath, under 
the gospel, was authoritatively changed by our Lord and his 
apostles, to honor the resurrection; and was in entire con- 
sistence with the original bearing of the institution, and 
the subsequent manifestation of the divine will concerning 
it. 

I was for some time doubtful, whether the argumentative 
air of the first four sermons, in which these points are es- 
tablished, was likely to be generally useful to you. I 
thought that perhaps the objections had not spread far in 
our neighborhood; and that the devout inculcation of the prac- 
tical duties of the Lord's day was the safer course. And in- 
deed, in general, this is our best wisdom: not one in a thousand 
of our population ever heard of Paley's objections. Cre- 
ation — the fourth commandment — the exhortation of the 
prophets — the custom and doctrine of our Savior and his 
apostles — the practice of the whole Christian church — their 
own sense of gratitude for the spiritual blessings conveyed — 
theiobvious state and wants of man — the prospect of an eternal 
Sabbath in heaven, — are plain, common-sense arguments 
to every pious mind; or rather, matters of fact, which no 
plausible theories can overthrow. 

But on further reflection, I conceived that a discussion 
of the main objections might not be unimportant to you. 
We live in a reading age: we adjoin an immense metrop- 
olis. The temper of the times inclines rather to intellect- 



24 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

ual pride, than to the sober exercise of the understanding 
in the obedience of faith. Men catch at any thing to es- 
cape from the sacred obligations of a day devoted to spirit- 
ual religion, and the care of the soul. The name of Paley, 
and his just reputation in matters of his own province, is 
seized with avidity. Some late pamphlets have detailed 
his statements with unwonted levity, and jet confidence of 
manner. The deplorable ignorance of theology manifest 
in these publications, to all who are versed in the inspired 
Scriptures, and who submit really to their authority, forms 
no hindrance to the diffusion of the poison amongst the 
young and uninformed. The youth in our universities, our 
tutors, our junior clergy, are not altogether free from the 
contagion. Open infidelity, semi-scepticism, profaneness, 
worldly-mindedness, unconcern for the soul, and a readiness to 
follow what is new and daring, all lean the same way. It 
seemed to me, therefore, to be the duty* of those who ad- 
hered to the doctrine of the Bible, and the universal faith 
of the church, to come forward and enter their protest 
against the gigantic evil. This I have endeavored to do. 
I have interwoven, however, with the argumentative ser- 
mons, practical exhortations; and I have treated, in the 
last three discourses, the specific duties of the Christian 
Sabbath at length. 

With regard to the authors to whom I have been in- 
debted for aid, you will find most of them referred to, as I 
have had occasion to cite their authority. But the fact is, 
that the whole church of Christ, in the proper sense of 
that term, has maintained this fundamental point, in every 
age. Subordinate matters have, of course, been dispu- 
ted: but the commanding truth of a day of religious exer- 
cise and holy rest, after six days' work, has through all 
the periods of our ecclesiastical annals, been acknowledged 
as of divine obligation. 

Perhaps, the best single sermons, in a practical point of 
view, are those of Dean Milner, Archdeacon Pott, and Dr. 
Chalmers — the last is in the most powerful and awakening 
manner of its author, and of itself settles the question. 
Some essays of the late Mr. Hey of Leeds, seem to me 
the clearest upon the controversy — he confutes Paley in a 
masterly and conclusive style. The most elaborate work 
on the whole argument, as handled in his day, is perhaps, 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 25 

The Exercitations of Owen. The change from the last to 
the first day of the week is thoroughly defended, in his 
lucid and convincing way, by J. Edwards — to whom J. 
Mede's sermon should, by all means, be adjoined. Bishop 
Andrews on the fourth commandment, is an incomparable 
discussion — full of learning, the soundest judgment, and 
rich knowledge of the materials of his argument. Mr. 
Holden has, in a recent work, arranged most of the rea- 
sonings and conclusions of preceding writers. He gives 
a list of nearly one hundred and fifty. He has furnished a 
valuable compendium. The chief authors of any popular- 
ity, that have fallen in my way, who impugn the divine 
authority of the Lord's day, are Bishop J. Taylor, — whose 
mistakes are not confined to this topic, mighty and various 
as were his powers, and sound in many views his theology 
— and Dr. Ogden and Dr. Paley, whose names will not 
weigh greatly with those who are acquainted with many 
other of their opinions. The primary error of supposing 
the narrative in Genesis, to be by prolepsis or anticipation, 
is maintained by Archbishop Bramhall — who, in part, re- 
deems the fault, by a bold and uncompromising- defence of 
the divine authority of the Christian Sabbath. Baxter 
confines himself to the argument from the example of our 
Lord and the inspired authority of the apostles, which he 
enforces in one of his very best treatises — omitting, but in 
no way questioning, the proofs from the Old Testament. 
The judicious Hooker, Bishop Hall, Archbishops Usher 
and Sharpe, Bishops Stillingfleet and Pearson, Archbishop 
Seeker and others, defend the generally received doctrine, 
in their own profound and impressive manner, though some 
of them treat it only incidentally. The learned Horsley 
has three noble sermons on the subject, in which he power- 
fully maintains the same view. I think he errs in consid- 
ering the Sabbath an appointment more of a positive than 
moral character. Indeed, if I am not deceived in my judg- 
ment, this error pervades almost all our writers, to the 
treatises of J. Edwards, and Hey. They too much con- 
cede, that the fourth commandment is of a positive nature. 
That there is, as I have said, something positive in it, may 
be granted — from the nature of the case it could not well 
be otherwise — but the positive part is as little as possible — 
solittle, that the grand duty of devoting some portion of 
3 



26 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

time to the immediate service of God is its main purport 
— the commandment is moral per se — arises from the fit- 
ness of things, and rests, like the other precepts, on the 
primary relation in which man stands to his Creator. The 
opinion of the reformers is uniformly in favor of the di- 
vine obligation of the Lord's day — Cranmer, Latimer, 
Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Beza, maintain it with one 
voice, though sometimes, especially at the early period of 
the reformation, they support certain festival days in com- 
mon with it. 

To refer to the authors where references to the question, 
or brief discussions occur, would be endless. Lightfoot, 
Watts, Doddridge, Walker of Truro, Scott, and most 
practical writers, have something valuable. I have found 
interesting papers in the 8th volume of the British Review, 
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Eclectic Review 
of the last year. The Bishop of Down and Connor has 
also recently published an excellent pamphlet on the subject, 
chiefly in refutation of the idea of an anticipated narrative, 
which he has treated with more force of argument than 
Hey or Dr. Dvvight. This last name deserves especial 
notice — Dr. Dwight, as well as his illustrious countryman, 
Edwards, has honored the American School of Theology 
— rapidly rising into importance — with a most convincing 
and able discussion of the question in all its branches, 
both theoretical and practical — this perhaps forms the best 
of our modern treatises; though it would be unjust to Dr. 
Humphrey of Amherst College, to withhold a tribute of 
applause from his excellent Essays. I spare a direct refer- 
ence to one or two publications in our own country of a late 
date, because I trust maturer reflection will lead the wri- 
ters to withdraw statements which are alike insulting to 
revelation and injurious to the youthful student. 

But I will not proceed. I have said so much, to show 
you that I have not been inattentive to the opinions of 
others — and likewise to suggest a course of reading to 
any of you who may have time for such an inquiry. The 
points upon which I hope I may have thrown new light, 
are the direct moral character of the fourth commandment 
— the importance and dignity given to the Sabbath even 
during the vigor of the Mosaic economy — the real bearing 
of our Lord's conduct and doctrine — and the way in which 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 27 

the change of the day was introduced by Christ and his 
apostles. These are not, however, essential to the main 
argument — whether I am right or wrong in my particular 
suggestions, the glory and obligation of the day of God re- 
main the same. 

And this leads me to notice the authority of revealed 
truth as connected with this subject, and forming its only 
true support. For it is on this footing I place the doc- 
trine of the Lord's day — it is a part of God's merciful 
revelation of his will to man. I am assured that you 
will agree with me that in the pulpit, and in the measures 
pursued in our several parishes, we can have no hope of 
success, unless we place the duty on its only firm footing, 
the express command of Almighty God. Expediency may 
obtain a decent compliance with custom, but will never sub- 
ject the affections. Expediency may carry a man once to 
church, but it will not carry him there twice, it will not 
regulate his family duties, it will not suppress the Sunday 
recreations, the Sunday News-papers, the Sunday parties, 
the Sunday dinners, the Sunday journies, the general Sun- 
day secularities. Expediency may conceal or control some 
outward enormities, it cannot implant principles of relig- 
ion, it cannot inspire love to God, it cannot check weari- 
ness and inattention, it cannot animate to prayer, it can- 
not change the human heart. 

To do this we must invoke the power of the supreme Po- 
tentate, and all those aids and operations of grace which 
he has promised as the accompaniments of his own truth. 
That is, we must ascend from human to divine agency. 
And here we see the importance of admitting duly the au- 
thority of revealed truth. Let me pause and take ad- 
vantage of the occasion to urge on you this great topic 
generally, and not merely as it refers to the point be- 
fore us. 

The authority of religious truth, as revealed in the Bible, 
rests on the infinite perfections of God who communicates 
it, on the relations in which man, his accountable and fal- 
len creature, stands to him, and on the implicit obedience 
which his Creator and Judge demands. Revealed truth 
comprehends every thing needful for us to know in order to 
glorify God and attain salvation — it is inspired and dictat- 
ed by the Holy Spirit— it is the remedy for the disorders 



28 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

of a ruined world — it is a system of infinite grace, in the 
person and incarnation of Jesus Christ offering himself a 
sacrifice for sins, and in the gift of the Holy Ghost as the 
source of life and holiness — it is a scheme of redemption 
formed "before the ages," and gradually developed in suc- 
cessive dispensations, according to the good pleasure of 
God. 

Revealed truth therefore is not so much many doctrines, 
as one stupendous doctrine or FACT, branching off 
into various parts. It is identical, indivisible, immutable, 
eternal — and has been acknowledged in all its essential 
characters by the whole spiritual church. Like the vari- 
ous prismatic colors, though divided off into its several rays, 
it yet constitutes one splendid, pure, and unmixed efful- 
gence. Receive this divine truth on the authority of God 
and by the grace of his Holy Spirit, and it works as the 
sovereign remedy of human woe. It illuminates, sanctifies, 
consoles, blesses the heart. It unites to Christ and to 
God in and through him, by the communion of the Holy 
Ghost. But if it be taken only upon the authority of man, 
it is weak, disjointed, incomplete, inefficient. 

View this grand discovery in its different branches, and 
you will see how they constitute only one doctrine, founded 
on one stupendous fact. 

The fall and condemnation of man, his accountableness, 
his impotency to any thing spiritually good, the deep, and, 
in a proper sense, total corruption of his nature, the misery 
and blindness, the disorder and enmity of the world, the 
propensity of the human heart to flesh, and self, and earth- 
ly pursuits, and its inability to recover itself to God and 
holiness — this is one part of essential truth — this is the 
case which redemption has to meet. 

The person, glory, incarnation, sufferings and propitia- 
tion of the Son of God; his supreme divinity, pardon and 
justification by faith only, in his obedience unto death; ac- 
ceptance and adoption through him; his mediatorial king- 
dom; his intercession at the right hand of the Father; 
union with him as the head of his church; love to him, 
gratitude, dependance, endeavors to honor him and imitate 
his example — these are another division — the centre of re- 
ligious truth, that on which all redemption rests^-salvation 
itself. 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 29 

The personality and proper deity of the Holy Spirit, 
in the awful and mysterious union of the Father and the 
Son — his operations in the human heart — regeneration and 
conversion by his grace — sanctification in and through him 
as the author and giver of spiritual life — his offices as the 
Comforter, Teacher, Guide, Conductor of the church — 
this is another branch of the same series. 

The Christian morals — obedience to God — the ten com- 
mandments, the rule of conduct — prayer — the church of 
Christ — the sacraments — and the ministry of the word — 
communion with God — a life of penitence, mortification of 
sin, watchfulness, growth in grace — support and consola- 
tion under the trials and afflictions of this life — the ascrip- 
tion of every thing effective in our salvation to the merciful 
will of God, and a humble depehdance upon him to accom- 
plish his work in our final redemption — these conclude the 
sketch of the scheme of revelation — these are the conse- 
quences and fruits of justification. All these truths are 
one — one remedy — one declaration of the infinite mercy of 
God — one scheme of salvation provided for man. 

In connection with this revealed truth, and the platform, 
as it were, on which the machinery is erected, is the Holy 
Sabbath— coeval with man— the example of the Almighty pro- 
posing it to him — creation so distributed as to lay a founda- 
tion for it — the powers and faculties of rational and irrational 
creatures formed upon the supposition of it — the propor- 
tion of one day's rest to six of labor infixed in the order of 
this beautiful world by the Almighty artificer — this institu- 
tion goes along with redemption — marks the season of re- 
ligious worship, affords the leisure, sets to work the minis- 
trations, collects all the materials for the diffusion of this 
truth and the celebration of the praises of its author — 
maintains the front and ^bearing of religion in the world — 
is the visible representation of Christianity, and the pledge 
of its heavenly reward. 

Such is truth — such it has been held in every age — such 
it was held substantially and in a darker form from the 
period of the fall — such it was held by the martyrs and 
reformers of the sixteenth century — such it will be held to 
the consummation of all things. 

What then, my dear friends, is the authority of truth 
—of such truth — of truth so new, so harmonious, so sublime, 
3* 



30 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

so important — what its claims upon the conscience? 
Is it to derive its force from secondary considerations? 
Is it to borrow its strength from human expediency ? Doubt- 
less the highest measures of expediency are found to attend 
our obedience to this revelation: and we fail not to urge in 
a subordinate view this motive. We tell men that Chris- 
tianity has "the promise of the life which now is, and of 
that which is to come." But then we place not truth on 
this footing. We build nothing on the shifting foundation 
of expediency, where the corrupt passions of men are the 
casuists, and the corrupt example of the world the judge. 
We appeal to the consciences of men upon the sure and 
immoveable authority of the Eternal God. We cite the 
inspired word. Then we have a blessing; then God hon- 
ors his own* truth; then the Holy Spirit vouchsafes effec- 
tive grace; then the human heart responds to the call; then 
the gospel brings forgiveness, peace, holiness, joy, salvation; 
then it becomes the instrument of conveying all the bless- 
ings of redemption to man. Its efficacy is derived from 
God its author; the Bible is the inspired record where He 
has placed it; and the Holy Spirit the blessed source of 
grace which he opens to the heart. And thus the doctrine 
of the Sabbath, in common with all the essential branches 
of truth with which God has connected it, becomes a spring 
of salvation to man. There is no revealed truth without a 
Sabbath for the meditation of it; and there is no Sabbath 
without the authority and command of God for its obser- 
vance. 

And do not imagine, my dear parishioners, that because 
revealed truth has been controverted, it is less binding upon 
the conscience. We clear it from misrepresentation — we 
answer objections — we silence vain reasonings-— truth 
shines conspicuous through the intervening- cloud, on every 
eye which is not wilfully closed to its beams. If we can- 
not remove every obscurity, its main features are distinct 
and refulgent still. There is enough of what is perspicu- 
ous in the Bible on all capital points, to outweigh difficul- 
ties on attendant questions. 

The deity of Christ has been controverted, I admit — the 
doctrine of justification by faith has been controverted — the 
personality of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, the nature of 
the spiritual life, the influence of the love of Christ, the vir- 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 31 

tue of the sacraments, the blessed joys of communion with 
God, the hope of everlasting life — every thing has been con- 
troverted — even the truth of Christianity itself — and there- 
fore the obligation of the Lord's day — has been controvert- 
ed. But what- then? Is truth less certain — less obligatory 
upon man? Ask only two questions, In what sense, and By 
whom has it been controverted, and all difficulty is removed. 

For ix what sense have these points been controverted? 
This divides off one half of the disputants. As to subordi- 
nate details, there is a wide field for variety of judgment. 
And it is in these respects, and no other, that truth has 
been disputed by real Christians. The order of the di- 
vine purposes — the union of man's responsibility and free 
agency with the operations of grace — the entrance and 
permission of moral evil — the mystery of the divine subsis- 
tences in the tri-unity of the Godhead — the narrow limits 
of the actual benefits of Christianity — the small apparent 
number of the elect — the apostacies of the east and the 
west — the condition of the heathen world — the disorders 
and scandals of the visible church — these and similar top- 
ics have ever been matters of dispute. But what is all 
this? It does not affect any one of the substantial verities 
of revelation. It is only saying that man is ignorant — 
that God has given us a revelation not complete in itself, 
but complete for the purposes he had in view — that this 
world is a probationary state — that an eternal judgment 
will rectify the temporary irregularities of the divine pro- 
ceedings here — that truth is so revealed in the Scriptures, as 
to be a trial of our submission of heart to God — that all 
is clear as to practice and our application of it, though 
much is obscure as to theory and the supposed combination 
of things in the divine mind. 

To keep, indeed, upon broad and acknowledged ground, 
is the dictate of wisdom, and the just inference from the 
perplexities of dispute. It is when we refine, that we dif- 
fer. And this the Bible never does. There is nothing ab- 
stract, nothing little, nothing rigid and systematic, nothing 
recondite and metaphysical in the Scriptures. Truth meets 
us there in her simple majesty — enjoins on us implicit obe- 
dience — and promises peace and joy. And thus it is that 
the humblest Christian has most tranquillity of heart. Truth 
is the medicine of his soul; he feels, as he receives the doc- 



32 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

trines of Christ Jesus the Lord, that he has found "the hid- 
den treasure, " that he has obtained the "pearl of great 
price/' that he has discovered the source of life and felicity, 
that he has reached the true end of his being. 

But when controversies relate to fundamental truth, then, 
I ask, by whom are they raised? This is the second ques- 
tion. Is it not by the heretic bringing into the church the 
spirit of unbelief? Is it not by the Socinian, the Neologian, 
the Semi-sceptic, the proud assertor of intellectual might? 
Is it not the insidious opponent of the grace of God, the 
Pelagian or Semi-pelagian controversialist, the secular 
theologian, the disputer of this world? Do we not perceive 
in the whole spirit of the opposition, that there is no due 
subjection of heart to revealed truth, that the authority of 
God does not weigh, that it is man's opinions, not divine 
revelation, which sway the judgment? See the hazardous 
criticism, see the irreverent language, see the unholy tone 
of scorn, see the rash and sweeping conclusions, see the en- 
mity to established sentiments, see the absence of spiritual 
affections, see the love of ambition and fame and the reli- 
ance on merely human learning which betray the state of 
the heart. 

The authority of revealed truth, in its commanding fea- 
tures, is, therefore, so far from being lessened by these con- 
siderations, that it is greatly augmented. Amidst the wan- 
derings of human opinion, the Bible is the only safe-guide — 
amidst the follies of human conjecture, it is the only authori- 
tative wisdom — amidst the contradictions of human reason- 
ings, it is the only decisive judge — amidst the miseries and 
errors of human ignorance, it is the only light that shines — 
amidst the doubts and misgivings of the human conscience, 
it is the only effectual friend and counsellor. 

And thus the plain and commanding doctrine of salvation 
by Christ Jesus, stands aloft and eminent above the doubt- 
ful opinions of men; thus the dignity and obligation of truth 
is elevated above the region of doubt and hesitation; thus 
the conscience of man is bound to all the main particulars 
of that revelation which God has made to his fallible and 
sinful creatures. The fall of man, and his redemption in 
Christ Jesus, are thus left with all their claims upon our 
faith; and the Sabbath, as subservient to this great remedy, 
remains as the distinguishing rite of revealed religion. 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 33 

My dear friends, let me intreat you to examine yourselves 
whether you have received the gospel in its paramount au- 
thority, and its salutary effects, as the truth of almigh- 
ty god ? With respect to the knowledge of your fallen 
and ruined state; have you felt it, and are you feeling it 
more and more — as a sick person feels a painful and op- 
pressive disease? Do you long for deliverance? Are you, 
in penitence and contrition, acknowledging your guilt and 
depravity, and imploring pardon and reconciliation with 
God? 

And as to the death and passion of our Lord Christ; are 
you relying upon it with a lively and penitential faith? Do 
you look for pardon and everlasting life only to the merits 
and sufferings of the divine Surety? Do you renounce 
heartily, and from a conviction of its worthlessness, your 
"own righteousness which is of the law," and do you trust 
simply to that Savior who has become, by his obedience 
unto death, "the end of the law for righteousness to every 
one that believeth?" Do you desire with St. Paul, "to 
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus the Lord?" 

And with regard to the work of the Holy Spirit; are 
you imploring his secret and gentle, but effective and saving 
influences to impart spiritual life and feeling; to "give you a 
right judgment in all things;" and to infuse holy habits into 
the will and affections? Are you "renewed in the spirit of 
your minds;" "quickened from the death of sin;" "born 
from above;" "delivered," not visibly merely, and sacra- 
mentally, but really and practically, "from the power of 
darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear 
Son?" 

If you have any knowledge of these things, revealed truth 
in its majesty and authority has produced its genuine effects. 
You bow with all the powers of your soul to the will of God 
in the Holy Bible. The opinions and controversies of men 
weigh nothing against the infallible word of inspiration. 
The Christian Sabbath becomes spontaneously your delight. 
Faith receives implicitly the account of its institution — con- 
science responds to the command. The Lord who appoint- 
ed it, has now prepared you to use it aright. There is a 
correspondence, a harmony between all the parts of truth 
and your own mind, which springs from the operations of 



34 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

grace there. The same God which indited the Bible has 
taught and sanctified your heart. Truth in the record of 
Scripture, and truth in your judgment and feelings is writ- 
ten by the same hand. 

If, however, this happy change — this conversion has not 
yet fully taken place in you — I mean if real religion is not 
yet seated in your hearts — then let me intreat you no 
longer to delay this great, this first duty of an accountable 
being, the care of the soul. I intreat you to remember the 
authority of truth — it claims your attention, it lays before 
you the most powerful body of evidences as to its divine ori- 
gin — it promises you every aid in making your inquiries. 
The Bible is given to save your soul. Consider, I beseech 
you, the danger of trifling with conscience. Employ the 
interruption to worldly affairs which the weekly Sabbath 
affords, for studying your Bible, for examining your heart, 
for attending the public worship of God with greater devo- 
tion and more fixed attention. Be in earnest. Pray. Act 
as a reasonable being under a dispensation of mercy. 

Above all, avoid that most perilous state of mind which 
comes to no conclusion — which "halts" — and contin- 
ues to "halt" — and at last "halts" systematically "be- 
tween two opinions," — which goes on for years with no opin- 
ion formed — no religion governing the soul — with unprofit- 
able intentions of future penitence and faith — and a most 
insidious and fatal vacillation between God and the world. 

I conceive there are too many in all large parishes, and 
therefore amongst my own beloved flock, in this state — the 
most opposed imaginable to the authority of revealed truth. 
They profess generally the Christian religion — they attend 
the means of grace — they respect their ministers — they ad- 
mire the national church — they join in certain benevolent 
objects. In all this they do well. But they are not truly 
converted from the love and service of sin and sensible ob- 
jects, to the supreme love and service of God in Christ Je- 
sus. Truth has not its just sovereignty in their hearts. 

And how does this come about? There is a fallacy at 
work. They say of some parts of truth, "I think them 
doubtful, they are controverted;" they say of other parts, 
"I dread being a party man, I fear going too far, I receive 
the general doctrines of the church as they are commonly 
R»derstood— I mean the same— there is no difference; we 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 35 

all believe the gospel:" they say of certain duties, "I ad- 
mit the expediency of thus acting, but the time will not 
allow of it, my circumstances and connections forbid; I am 
a man of peace." Thus they strike a balance, as it were, 
between God and the world. They come to a compromise. 
They deny no article of the Christian faith explicitly; but 
all the spiritual, humiliating parts, they evade— all the pe- 
culiar grace of Christ Jesus they evade, all the glory and 
efficacy of the work of the Holy Ghost they evade — all the 
real mortification of heart to sensible objects and worldly 
pursuits they evade — all the reproach of the cross, and the 
shame following the humiliating doctrine of the gospel they 
evade! Miserable subterfuges these — snares of the great 
adversary. What! are the opinions of men, or the fear of 
a party-spirit, or the fashion of the day, or the standard of 
piety which happens to be reputable in a rebel world, any 
sufficient arguments against the authority of revealed truth? 
You are bound to yield to the call and demand of your 
Creator and Redeemer, whatever may be the consequences. 
It is this commanding claim which I am most anxious to 
urge upon you. It is not man, it is not this or that writer, 
it is not the church, it is not ministers; it is God himself 
who speaks. Faith is the submission of the soul to all he 
declares — and therefore it is that faith is not an intellectual 
effort, or a cold assent, but the cordial acquiescence 
and repose of the understanding and will of man upon 
the Bible as the word of the living God. It is the work 
of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. To seek this 
blessing, I most affectionately invite you, that you may 
know the things which belong unto your peace, and at- 
tain the blessings of salvation. 

Nor is it upon the general body of my friends and par- 
ishioners merely, that I would press the authority of relig- 
ious truth; I would turn to those who do admit this author- 
ity, and are endeavoring to act uprightly in obeying it, both 
as it regards the great scheme of salvation, and as it re- 
spects the holy season of the Lord's day, which is appoint- 
ed to accompany it. 

Let me guard you against the prevalent invasions of the 
authority of revealed truth which abound in the present day. 
I need not say any thi»g to put you on your watch against 
the neologism, the daring criticism, the love of novelty, the 



36 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

impatience of old-received truth, the pride of a false philos- 
ophy, the pretence that knowledge can sanctify and bless 
mankind, the questioning the plenary and unerring inspira- 
tion under which the Scriptures were written, and the rage 
for bold interpretations of their sacred contents, which are 
the spurious progeny of a time like the present. 

I would rather caution you, with great tenderness, against 
more covert attacks on the authority of truth, by excess of 
statement — by over earnestness respecting the unfulfilled, 
and therefore inscrutable scheme of prophecy — by dispro- 
portionate attention to matters doubtful at the very best 
and not essential to salvation — by vehement assertions of 
our own particular sentiments on these points, and the pub- 
lic inculcation of them upon others. These are dangers to 
which I believe you are at present very little exposed. I 
rejoice to think of the simplicity of your faith, and your un- 
feigned subjection to the whole Bible in all its holy instruc- 
tions. But I would caution you. The tendency of all such 
misplaced vehemence is to sap the authority of truth. It 
eats out the life and grace of religion. It occupies the time, 
distracts the thoughts, takes off the attention from God and 
Christ, and pardon and justification, and the Holy Spirit, 
and growth in holiness, and watchfulness and humility — and 
it gradually and unconsciously draws off the mind towards 
minute and subordinate points, which can never be settled, 
and if they could, would not change one duty nor one mo- 
tive of the Christian life. My dear friends, I only suggest 
a hint. I speak to my younger parishioners and fellow 
Christians, as a father to his children. I do not say, 
"Study not the prophecies" — for I study them myself with 
increasing delight. I do not say, "Indulge not the most 
glowing hopes of the future millennial triumph of the church" 
— I indulge them myself. I do not say, "Expect not the 
second coming, the second personal advent of our Lord" — 
I expect it myself — I watch or endeavor to watch with my 
"loins girded and my lamp burning." On all these points 
there is no difference of opinion. The danger is, when par- 
ticular explications of the unfulfilled prophecies with respect 
to them, possess the mind — the danger is, when the imag- 
ination dwells, till it is inflamed, upon minute and secondary 
details on the time and manner of our Lord's approach — 
the danger is, when an hypothesis is first admitted into the 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 37 

mind, then admired, then defended, then made an article, 
or almost an article of faith — the danger is, when repent- 
ance, faith, love, obedience, communion with God, watch- 
fulness, growth in grace, the discharge of social and per- 
sonal duties, are insensibly jostled out of the mind; and 
these new and subordinate matters thrust into their place. 
You do not mean this — you are not convinced it is possible. 
But let me beseech you to be on your guard. The human 
mind is a narrow place. The time we have for religious 
exercises is short. The corruption of man leans always 
towards theory rather than practice. Novelty, when it 
once gains the imagination, soon gets possession of the 
time and heart. 

Unnumbered examples in ecclesiastical annals testify 
how the effects of a similar course (unconsciously admitted 
by the most pious persons) have exposed the church to the 
wiles of our great adversary. Three times in the course 
of thirty years, have I witnessed such a process my- 
self. Whatever takes us off from holy repenting, holy be- 
lieving, holy walking, holy loving, holy watching, holy 
dying, is an artifice of that arch-deceiver. It is thus, in 
every period when they have arisen, that the church has 
been divided, that claims to miraculous powers have been 
made, that an inflation of mind has been produced, that 
the idea of a special inspiration has been imbibed, that all 
argument and expostulation have proved fruitless, that the 
Holy Spirit has been grieved, that scandals of the most 
fearful description have at length arisen, and the honor of 
Christianity been tarnished. 

The wisdom, my dear friends, of the humble servant of 
God, is to take warning betimes; to avoid the first steps — 
the succeeding may be beyond his power — but the first 
steps he may shun — and at the same time he must take 
care, that in doing so, he is not betrayed into any opposite 
extreme, equally dangerous though of another character. 

The remedy is, the authority of truth — the soul 
subjected to God — the reason and conscience taking the 
simple, unsophisticated declarations of the Bible — stopping 
where God stops — and not first imposing human notions on 
this sacred book, and then calling those notions the Bible. 
To help us to walk safely in all these respects, we must 
pray much for the Holy Spirit, take counsel with friends^ 
4 



38 PASTORAL ADDRESS. 

be willing to be ignorant of many things, mark the first 
admonitions of conscience, shun novelties, and fly before 
we are entangled in the net of the subtle foe. 

As to the practical duties of the Holy Sabbath, I would 
only urge you and myself, my dear friends, to be continually 
on our watch against the growth of unfavorable habits. 
The more holy it is kept, the better. Let it be set apart 
for spiritual duties. Give it up exclusively to God. Obey 
the fourth commandment. Carry its injunctions into effect 
in your hours, your arrangements, your spirit, your influence^ 
your example, your whole conduct. 

Endeavor to make the duties of the day pleasant and 
interesting to children and servants. Imbibe the Christian 
spirit of love, of tenderness, of the compassionate exam- 
ple of our Lord. Young persons cannot enter as you do, 
into all the reasons of the institution; but they can be at- 
tracted, led on, encouraged by degrees. Do not open your 
minds to objections, when you have once been relieved 
from doubts — which I trust the following sermons may as- 
sist in effecting — do not. again admit them. Let the ques- 
tion be considered as settled — dismiss the controversy, close 
the debate; and give yourselves to the practical authority 
of truth. To listen to cavils, after you have come to a 
calm determination, is to tempt God. To dispute again, is 
to grieve the Holy Ghost. Life is too short for intermin- 
able bickerings. 

With regard to public measures for observing the Lord's 
day, I need scarcely invite my kind neighbors to aid the 
new Association to which I have already adverted. I am 
sure 1 may rely on the heads of families, and persons in 
station and influence, to give effective directions that trades- 
men bring home to them no articles of food, or other mer- 
chandise, on the Lord's day. 

I am sure 1 need not entreat them to attend with their 
families, twice on the Sunday, the public worship of God. 

I am sure I need not beg of them to avoid the reading 
of secular books and public newspapers, the writing of let- 
ters of business, the paying and receiving of ordinary vis- 
its, the indulging in worldly and vain conversation on the 
sacred day. 

Nor is it necessary for me to say much to those of my 
parishioners who are engaged in the affairs of trade, to in- 



PASTORAL ADDRESS. 39 

duce them to close their shops, their counting-houses, their 
offices, their books of account, on this blessed day. The 
divine favor will never prosper those who violate the divine 
command. The Lord's day is the tradesman's time of re- 
pose, of refreshment, of spiritual improvement. But I 
conclude. Accept, my dear friends, my best thanks for all 
your kindness. Pardon the unnumbered defects which have 
attended my honest efforts. Bear with me both as to the 
manner and matter of this address. It comes from my 
heart. Let mutual prayer bind us together more and more. 
We have seen things go forward now for nearly seven 
years with gratifying success. 

Now is the season, then, for supplication to Almighty 
God, to animate, to quicken, to aid with his blessing these 
introductory measures. All depends on his grace and mer- 
cy in the first place, and then upon the spirit of union and 
love amongst ourselves; upon the simplicity of the gospel 
being preserved; upon the humility in which we teach and 
preach, and in which you hear and obey, the truth; upon 
the real conversion of souls which is carried on; upon the 
fruits of charity and holiness which we produce, upon the 
patience with which we sustain the trials, and the perse- 
verance with which we discharge the duties of life; and 
upon the ascriptions of praise and glory which we offer to 
our God and Savior, for every thing good in ourselves and 
others. 

But I will not proceed. I bid you farewell. I entreat 
your prayers on my behalf. We stand on the margin of 
eternity. I cannot long hope to have strength for any con- 
siderable efforts for your welfare. Whilst we have time, 
may we labor with all diligence; and may each Lord's 
day, as it revolves, be spent better than the preceding, and 
prepare us more for that "rest," that celebrating of a 
Sabbath "which remaineth for the people of God." 

I am, your most affectionate Minister and Friend, 

D. WILSON. 



SJERMOJtf I. 



THE INSTITUTION OF A WEEKLY SABBATH IN PARA- 
DISE, AND ITS CONTINUED AUTHORITY UNTIL 
THE DELIVERY OF THE MORAL LAW. 



Genesis ii, 1 — 3. 

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished* and all the 

host of them. 
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had 

made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his 

work which he had made. 
And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because 

that in it he had rested from all his work which God 

created and made. 

The glory of God is peculiarly connected with the due 
observance of the day which he is pleased to call his own, 
and on which he has suspended, in every period of the 
church, almost all the practical effects of that mighty sal- 
vation which he has provided for man. The Christian sab- 
bath is one main distinction of the gospel dispensation, as 
the Jewish was of the Mosaical, and the patriarchal of 
the first revelation of the divine will to Adam. The pro- 
fanation of that day goes to annihilate all the blessings of 
revelation. It leaves the world without any visible token 
of the authority of Christianity, and strips the church of 
the best means of openly testifying its faith and obedience. 
If the Sabbath be taken away from the mass of mankind, 
no time is left for religious duties, for the worship of Al- 



INSTITUTION OF SABBATH. 41 

mighty God, domestic piety, the instruction of children, the 
visiting* the sick and needy, the reading and hearing of the 
gospel, the celebration of the sacraments, the preparation 
for that rest of heaven of which it is the pledge and fore- 
taste. Without it, the remaining classes of society would 
never, in fact, allot a time for those duties, which being- 
left open, would not be obligatory; nor could they sustain 
with effect the honor of religion in their families or the 
world. 

Christianity is indeed abridged and summed up in the 
weekly return of the day, when its solemn services and 
duties are performed. As real piety declines in any coun- 
try, this symbol of it is forgotten or contemned; as it re- 
vives in its doctrines and spirit, men awake again to the 
value of those means of grace, of which the Sabbath is the 
first in importance and dignity. 

The divine authority of a weekly religious rest has ever 
been one of those primary truths in which the universal 
church has most generally agreed. Its institution in para- 
dise and its insertion in the moral law, have given it an 
authority on the consciences of men which nothing has been 
able to shake. Christian states have hitherto, without ex- 
ception, recognized it, and protected their subjects in the 
peaceable enjoyment of its repose. The disputes of con- 
troversialists have chiefly affected subordinate questions, 
and have left the divine authority undisturbed as an article 
of the general faith of Christendom. The neglect of its 
practical duties has, indeed, from the corruption of man, 
been but too common in every age; but open assaults upon 
the origin and continued obligation of the day itself, have 
been rare till of late years. 

Now, however, the spirit of covert scepticism or luke- 
warm Christianity has not spared this most ancient of 
institutions. Not content with impugning the separate 
doctrines and mysteries of Revelation, it makes bold to call 
in question that sacred season when all those doctrines and 
mysteries are inculcated. The platform and arena of re- 
ligion is taken from under our feet — the great external dis- 
tinction of the Christian faith is annihilated — and man, 
erring sinful man, is deprived of his day of repose and 
recollection, and turned adrift to learn his Christianity and 
celebrate its rites, as chance may dictate and expediency 
4* 



42 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

persuade. And though most of the opponents of the divine 
authority of the Sabbath are ready at present to allow its 
importance, and are loud in their admiration of those pub- 
lic services which custom and the laws of our country en- 
join, yet the tendency of their writings is to sap the princi- 
ple on which all this rests, to take men off from the firm 
footing of conscience and the command of God, and trans- 
fer them to the sandy ground of human recommendation 
and casual example. 

The duty of the minister of the gospel, under such cir- 
cumstances, is plain. He is bound to instruct the young with 
more care than usual in the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures 
on this great question. He is bound to examine the more 
popular and mischievous objections. He is bound to state 
what real difficulties rest on the subordinate points of the in- 
quiry. He is bound to assure the poor and simple in his flock, 
that they may rely on the grounds of their former faith. 
He is bound to recal the intelligent and elevated classes 
from the fatal course on which they are seduced to enter. 

And in honestly attempting this, he may look for the bless- 
ing of Almighty God, who only permits his truth to be as- 
sailed in different ages, by different classes of error, in order 
to prove and try our faithfulness,— in order to carry on, in 
fact, that system of moral probation and discipline which 
he has been pleased to establish in this world, and which is 
apparent, not in this question only, but in every other con- 
nected with the evidences, the doctrines and the precepts of 
Christianity. God has indeed left things so in the Bible, 
says Bishop Butler, that his will is plain to the humble in- 
quirer, but obscure and difficult to the proud — that there is 
darkness enough on secondary matters and points not con- 
nected with our immediate duty, to be the occasion of ex- 
cuse to the unwilling; whilst there is sufficient light to guide 
the sincere and docile. For it is to practice that the doc- 
trine of revelation on this subject, as well as every other, 
tends. The day of rest, not in its theory, or even its di- 
vine obligation, but in its holy duties and in its peculiar bless- 
ings, is the object which it has in view. And to this we 
shall direct all our attention, as soon as we have cleared 
our way through those arguments which are necessary as 
an introduction to practical exhortation. In this respect it 
is that the theory and doctrine of the sabbath, its divine au- 



IN PARADISE. 43 

tbority and perpetual obligation, are so important. They 
are wanted as a ground-work. When this is firmly laid, we 
raise our superstructure with safety. 

The whole subject, then, of the Christian Sabbath divides 
itself into two parts — the divine authority of a day of 
weekly rest — and the manner in which that day should be 
observed under the Christian dispensation. The former 
question will occupy the first four sermons; the latter, the 
last three of the present series. 

In the first division we shall have to examine the founda- 
tion on which the duty rests, that is, the grounds we have for 
believing that a seventh portion of our time, now termed the 
Lord's Day, and formerly called the Sabbath, is required 
by Almighty God to be dedicated to his immediate service; 
and the nature of the objections raised by our opponents. 

In the second division we shall point out the practical 
duties of the Christian Sabbath, the unspeakable impor- 
tance of observing them, the evils of the opposite neglect, 
and the necessity of personal and national repentance, if we 
would avert the Divine displeasure. 

We enter, then, now on the first general branch of the 
whole question. Here the points which most decidedly es- 
tablish the divine authority and perpetual force of a weekly 
day of rest, are — the institution of it in Paradise, its sol- 
emn insertion in the decalogues, the position it holds under 
the Mosaic law, the energy with which the prophets insist 
upon it as one of the primary and universal obligations of 
religion, and the observance of it by the apostles, divinely 
directed to found the Christian faith, and by all the prim- 
itive Christian churches, immediately instructed by them. 

The chief difficulties which our adversaries oppose to 
these arguments are, that there are no vestiges, as they 
assert, of the observance of a Sabbath in the patriarchal 
ages — that therefore the narrative of its institution in the 
book of Genesis, is by anticipation; that it was not estab- 
lished, in fact, till the time of the ceremonial law, and then 
merely formed a part of that preparatory economy; that 
we have no express command for the observation of it, or 
of any day in lieu of it, in the New Testament; that our 
Lord repealed it by his doctrine and conduct, of which the 
change of the time of its celebration is, as they maintain, 
a sufficient proof; and that, finally, the example of the 



4 4 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

apostles, and the primitive Christians, gives it only the 
force of a moral expediency, subject to the regulations of 
each Christian church, in each following age. 

Such is the state of the question. Our opponents pro- 
ceed on the silence of Scripture during the patriarchal 
ages: this we shall show to be an unsound argument; and 
shall prove that it was instituted in Paradise and revived 
and re-established in the wilderness. # Our opponents insist 
that it is a ceremonial appointment appended to the Mo- 
saic dispensation: we shall show that it was inserted in 
the immutable law of the ten commandments before that 
dispensation; that it was exalted during the course of the 
Mosaic economy above all merely typical institutions, and 
was enforced by the prophets as of universal obligation.']" 
Our adversaries say there is no express command for it under 
the New Testament, whilst the doctrine and conduct of our 
Lord virtually repealed it: we shall show that no new statute 
was to have been expected; and that our Savior honored it 
on all occasions, and only vindicated it from uncommanded 
austerities. J Our opponents consider the change of the day 
as a proof of its abrogation: we shall maintain, that this 
was in itself a subordinate point; and was altered upon the 
authority of the Lord of the Sabbath. Finally, the exam- 
ple of the apostles is reduced by our adversaries to a mere 
commendation of the observance: we shall show it to have 
a divine obligation derived from the inspiration under which 
they acted. § 

These topics will occupy four sermons. We shall in the 
present one confine ourselves to the original institu- 
tion OF A WEEKLY SABBATH IN PARADISE, AND ITS 

continued authority, till the delivery of the 
Moral Law. 

Our text contains the history of "the first Sabbath." 
No sooner were the heavens and the earth finished, and 
Adam placed in the garden of Eden, than God blessed and 
set apart, as our text asserts, one day in seven for his own 
immediate service. He "who knew what was in man," 
and who had a right to all his obedience and love, was 
pleased to appoint that six portions of his time should be 
allowed him for his ordinary labor, and the seventh exclu- 

* Sermon 1. t Sermon 2. | Sermon 3. § Sermon 4. 



IN PARADISE. 45 

sively devoted to religious repose, and the exalted duties of 
communion with his Maker. 

Every circumstance connected with this first institution 
is calculated to give us the highest idea of its essential and 
moral character. The whole controversy hinges here. 
The universal obligation of the Sabbath is not disputed, if 
it be proved that it had its origin in paradise. And how 
men of gravity could ever persuade themselves that a narra- 
tive so express was merely inserted in the chapter from 
which our text is taken, by a figure of speech, whilst the 
Sabbath was never in fact heard of till two thousand five 
hundred years afterwards; is one of those startling posi- 
tions for which the perverseness of man's fallen nature can 
alone account. The notion of an anticipated history seems 
first to have been broached by the Jewish doctors, in their 
zeal to magnify the Mosaical ritual.* Their followers in 
modern times, especially one popular writer,! have failed to 
establish any satisfactory case. 

The absence of any vestiges of the observance of a Sab- 
bath during the brief history of the patriarchal ages, is a 
species of argument which, if it were ever so well sustained 
by the supposition on which it proceeds, is wholly without 
force, as we shall presently show. It will be proper, how- 
ever, to proceed in order. Let us state, 

I. The direct reasons why we believe the Sabbath 
to have been instituted at the time when the sacred narra- 
tive begins. 

The transactions of the seventh-day immediately follow 
those of the sixth, precisely as those of the sixth follow the 
fifth — the history is chronological, unbroken, complete. 
This is the reason, each day's work comes in order. As 
on the first day the chaotic mass and the light were called 
into being; and on t}ie second the firmament was created; 
and on the third dry land was made to appear; and on the 
fourth the sun and moon were ordained to shine; and on 
the fifth the fishes and winged fowl filled their several ele- 
ments; and on the sixth the terrestrial animals, and man, 
the Lord of the lower creation, were made; so on the sev- 
enth God "ended his work" — "rested from all his work" 

* Owen's Exercitations. 

t Dr. Paley. Archbishop Bramhall was the chief supporter of this 
notion in the century before last. 



46 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

— and "blessed and sanctified the seventh day, because on 
it he had rested from all his work which God created and 
made." These were the transactions of the seventh day, 
which come as directly in succession after the preceding, 
as any of the other days. And can we, then, be at liberty, 
merely because we think subsequent notices of its observa- 
tion should occur in the history of the patriarchs, to trans- 
fer an event thus recorded in a regular series of transac- 
tions, to a period two thousand five hundred years distant? 
We might as well break asunder the links of the history of 
the creation, at any other period as at this. We might 
as well suppose that the heavens and the earth were not 
created, or that man was not formed on the days which the 
sacred history records. We might as well imagine that 
the sun and moon did not begin to shine as soon as they 
were made, as that the Sabbath was not granted to man 
at the time which is assigned to it. 

The whole foundation of faith is overturned by such a 
process. If in a plain historical narrative, and especially 
a series of successive actions, we are not to believe that 
the events really occurred, as they were affirmed to have 
occurred, the Bible is no longer a clear and safe guide, but 
an enigma and a riddle. The plain literal common-sense 
interpretation of the history of the Scripture is indispensa- 
ble to faith. 

But in the present case we have yet further reasons. 
The distribution of the work of creation into its parts would 
be deprived of its object and end, if the institution of the 
Sabbath is expunged. For why this distribution, but to 
mark to man the proportion of time allotted him for his 
usual labor, and the proportion to be assigned to religious 
exercises? As the narrative stands in the Scripture, all is 
consistent. The six days' creation, the seventh day's rest, 
have their relative place. They teach man a great moral 
and religious lesson. Take away the first Sabbath, and 
all is left incomplete and detruncated — the object in which 
it terminates is wanting. 

Again, where is the example in Scripture of any institu- 
ted commemoration not beginning from the time of its ap- 
pointment? Did the passover wait two thousand years 
before it was celebrated, after the deliverance which it was 
designed to commemorate? Did circumcision under the 



IN PARADISE. 47 

Old Testament, or baptism and the Lord's Supper under the 
New, remain in abeyance for centuries before they were 
acted upon? And shall the commemoration of the glories 
of creation be thought to be suspended for more than two 
thousand years after the occasion on which it was appoint- 
ed had taken place? And especially as the reason for the 
celebration existed from the beginning; related to the whole 
race of mankind more than to the Jews, and was indeed 
most cogent immediately after the creation— for in the fol- 
lowing ages sin had marred the Almighty's work. 

One is ashamed to urge more arguments in such a case 
— but what meaning, I ask, had Moses in his reference to 
six days' labor and a seventh day's Sabbath, as matters 
familiarly known, at the time of the miraculous fall of 
manna before the giving of the law, if there had not been 
a preceding institution? Or what is intended by the cita- 
tion of the very language of my text in the fourth command- 
ment, if the reason there assigned had not really reposed 
on facts — "For in six days the Lord made heaven and 
earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the sev- 
enth day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, 
and hallowed it" — where it is to be noted, that the words 
are not "the Lord blesses and hallows;" or "will bless and 
hallow;" but, "wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath 
day, and hallowed it," at the time that "he rested" from 
his creative work. Add to this the language of the apos- 
tle in his epistle to the Hebrews, where he takes for grant- 
ed that the original rest of the Sabbath began when "the 
works were finished from the creation of the world ;"* and 
we have the strongest moral certainty that the narrative of 
the institution of the Sabbath in paradise^ is and must be 
literally interpreted. 

But it is further objected, that, allowing this account to 
be in its natural place, it contains no enactment of a Sab- 
bath — it states merely that God blessed and hallowed the 
seventh day ; but for what purposes it does not affirm. 

* Heb. iv. 3. 

f The opinion of the reformers on this subject is uniform. Luther says, 
If Adam had continued in innoeency; yet he would have had a sacred 
seventh day. Beza says, that the day of the Sabbath continued from the 
creation of the world to the resurrection of our Lord, when it was at 
length changed by the apostles into the Lord's day. I need not go on. 



48 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

But we ask in reply, for whose use then did the Almighty 
bless and hallow the seventh day — what is the meaning of 
God's condescending to say that he a rested and was re- 
freshed after the six days' work" — what instruction do we 
derive from the division of creation into six portions, follow- 
ed by a seventh of repose? Were not all these done for 
the sake of man, the reasonable, intelligent creature of the 
great artificer? Did the Almighty rest for his own sake, 
or bless and hallow the seventh day, that he within himself 
might observe it? Unreasonable, if not impious, are such 
suppositions. God's working six days, and resting the 
seventh, were doubtless designed to be of general and uni- 
versal use in determining the proportion of time to be sev- 
erally devoted to human and divine duties — by them the 
conduct of mankind was to be regulated — hy them God 
intended to teach us that we should, after his example, 
work six days, and then rest and hallow the next fol- 
lowing that we should sanctify every seventh day 

that the space between rest and rest, between one hal- 
lowed time and another, among his creatures here upon 
earth, should be six days. * And indeed there is no other 
sense in which the word "sanctified" is used in the Old* 
Testament, when employed with respect to inanimate things, 
or to persons fulfilling an office or function. Thus the 
priests, the tabernacle and all its furniture, days of fasting 
and penitence, &c. were declared to be sanctified, when 
they were separated from common employments, and set 
apart for the especial service of God. This is the uniform 
import of the terms: when it is said, therefore, that God 
blessed and sanctified the seventh day, it means that he 
set it apart and consecrated it for religious rest, and an- 
nexed the promise of his special blessing to the discharge 
of its duties. 

And this meaning, which common sense requires, is ren- 
dered certain by the exposition of its terms in the fourth 
commandment, where the minute injunctions with regard to 
the Sabbath expressly repose upon the words of our text r 
which it cites and explains. 

The objections to the received faith of the church on the 
institution of the sabbath in paradise, you see, are weak and 
nugatory. They have not even a shadow of proof. Not 

* J. Edwards. 



IN PARADISE. 49 

one person in a million of those who read the sacred narra- 
tive, would ever dream that it was an anticipated history, 
or that it did not imply a most decisive command to keep 
holy the day of rest. 

Here, then, we fix our foot. Now let us turn from 
facts to 

II. The just inferences to be drawn frcm them as 
to the glory and dignity of the Sabbath. 

We learn from them, first, its essential necessity to 
man as man. Though Adam was in a state of innocence, 
his all-wise Creator saw it necessary to call him off from 
even the moderate and gentle labor of dressing and keep- 
ing the garden, to the immediate contemplations and ex- 
ercises of religion. Adam loved God "with all his heart 
and soul and mind and strength" — he required no season 
of repose to withdraw his mind from the eagerness of 
worldly pursuits, in the sense in which we require it, nor to 
recreate his body from excessive toil — and yet the Sabbath 
was necessary for him. Judge from this of its essential 
moral character. Judge from this how indispensable it is 
to fallen man, with that propensity to earthly things which 
now weighs down his soul, and that aversion and enmity to 
communion with a holy God which sin has superinduced. 

Consider, further, that it was the first command given 
by God to Adam, as soon as ever the work of creation was 
finished. Man never was without a Sabbath. The mo- 
ment there was a creature formed capable of knowing and 
serving God, a special time was assigned for that end. 
The Sabbath is coeval with the human race. It takes 
precedence of the prohibition of the tree of knowledge. It 
rests on the essential relation of a creature with his glori- 
ous Creator. 

Observe, further, that this command was not merely 
made known to man, in some of those ways in which his 
Maker afterwards communicated his will, but it was 

PLACED, AS IT WERE, ON THE FOOTING OF CREATION 

itself. By the Almighty hand all nature might have been 
called into being in an instant. The distribution of the 
work over six days, followed by the repose on the seventh, 
was to infix this grand principle in the mind of every hu- 
man being, that after six days' labor, one day of religious 
rest should follow. God worked in a certain order, that 
5 



50 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

man might work in the same; God rested at a certain 
time, that man might rest likewise. In this glorious man- 
ner is the law of the Sabbath graphically set forth; this is 
the distinction which crowns the brow of the Queen of 
days. We have already noticed the proof this furnishes 
of the Sabbath having been instituted at the time assigned 
in the sacred story; but we now deduce from it the impor- 
tance and dignity of the appointment itself. It is an 
appointment not written merely by inspired men, not graven 
on tables of stone, not indented in lead on the rock for 
ever, not uttered in the first instance from the summit of 
the mount by the voice of the Almighty and amidst the 
thunders and terrors of Sinai — but infixed in the creative 
order of the universe, inscribed on the heavens and earthy 
exhibited in the radiant character of the six days' work, 
associated with every commemoration of the wisdom and 
glory of God, promulgated with the majesty and example 
of the great Lord of all — and therefore requiring no subse- 
quent enactments, except to incorporate it with the vari* 
ous dispensations of religion, and revive it when forgotten, 
that it may go on and accompany man so long as he con- 
tinues upon earth. 

We learn also, from this order of creation, that man was 
made, not for constant and unrelieved employment, or for 
earthly pursuits chiefly, but for labor with intervals 
of repose, and in subordination to the glory of 
his God: man was formed not for seven days' toil, but for 
six — man was formed not for secular and terrestrial pur- 
suits merely, but for the high purpose of honoring God, 
meditating on his works, and preparing for the enjoyment 
of him for ever. The essential nature of the institution 
obviously lies in the proportion of time fixed by his benefi- 
cent and all-wise Creator — for his body six days' labor, 
for his soul one day of religious rest; and this corresponds 
with his compound nature — his intellectual and moral part 
calling him up to the exalted and delightful offices of re- 
ligion, and his bodily and animal part requiring recreation 
and repose. The Sabbath is the spiritual badge and char- 
ter of man. 

What a dignity, then — what an importance — what an 
obligation attaches to this sacred day! Well may it be 
admitted by our chief opponent, that if "the divine command 



IN PARADISE. 51 

was actually delivered at the creation, it was no doubt ad- 
dressed to the whole human species alike, and continues, 
unless repealed by some subsequent revelation, binding upon 
all who come to the knowledge of it." # 

III. Let. us next show that, there are traces of 

THE OBSERVATION OF A WEEKLY REST DURING THE 

patriarchal ages. For it is upon this assumption, as 
we have stated, that the idea of an anticipated narrative 
is founded. "There are no vestiges, not a single allusion," 
say our opponents, "of the knowledge of a sabbatical rest, 
till the Mosaical law; and therefore the account in the 
book of Genesis is by prolepsis. 55 

We allow that there are no express notices of a weekly 
Sabbath as observed by the patriarchs. We allow that 
the detailed scenes in the lives of Abraham and Jacob are 
without any direct declaration on the subject. That there 
are allusions and vestiges we shall presently show. But we 
admit the difficulty so far as the objection is founded. But 
what does it amount to, even supposing it be conceded in 
all its extent? Would the loss of the original law of the 
Sabbath for two thousand five hundred years, amidst the 
corruption flowing from the fall, prove that no such law had 
been enacted at the creation? The original law of mar- 
riage was lost during a much longer period, but was it the 
less reasserted by our Savior, as the primary and binding 
appointment of the Almighty? But we admit not that the 
observation of the Sabbath was wholly forgotten during this 
period. The objection can only pretend to rest on the 
silence of Scripture. Now to argue from that silence, is 
most unfair and most injurious to the interests of revelation. 

An objection derived from things, not being expressly 
mentioned so often as we might please to expect, is wholly 
inconclusive. No mention is made of sacrifices from the 
time of Abel till the deluge, a period of fifteen hundred 
years, nor from the arrival of Jacob at Beersheba| till the 
deliverance from Egypt, a space of two or three hundred 
aore; but does this prove that sacrifices were not offered? 
We read nothing about circumcision from the death of 
Moses to the days of Jeremiah, an interval of eight centu- 
ries; but does any one imagine that circumcision was not 

* Paley. f Gen. xlvi. 1. 



52 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

performed? No mention of the Sabbath occurs in the 
histories of the books of Joshua, Ruth, first and second 
of Samuel, and first of Kings, which are so much more de- 
tailed than those of Genesis; and yet this was during the 
Mosaical law, when the institution was confessedly in its 
fullest vigor. The ordinance of the red heifer, again, is 
never once noticed from the period of the Pentateuch, till 
the close of the Old Testament; but the apostle refers to 
it, and argues from it in the New, as a rite well known, 
and in constant use. Even in the book of Psalms and in 
the Prophets, the Sabbath is seldom expressly mentioned, 
except when the neglect of it provoked the indignation of 
the Almighty. 

So little force is there in the objection, even allowing it 
all it demands. It is not for us to prescribe to the Al- 
mighty how often, or under what circumstances, any of his 
commands should be repeated. It is enough for us to know 
with regard to the Sabbath, that it was instituted in the 
most solemn and resplendent manner. From this we may 
justly infer, that the observation of it was never wholly lost 
amongst the descendants of Seth, and in the line of Abra- 
ham, and the other patriarchs; though the celebration of 
it is not expressly recorded. It is thus we deduce from the 
continual offering of sacrifices, that that institution was 
divinely appointed, though we have no express mention of 
that appointment. The cases, indeed, of sacrifice and of 
the Sabbath are in one respect similar. The record is 
not complete: but we infer what is wanting from what 
is expressly stated. Of sacrifice, the celebration by the 
patriarchs after the deluge is perpetually recorded, though 
we have no direct account of its institution. Of the Sab- 
bath, the original law is distinctly given, though the con- 
tinued observance by the patriarchs is not expressly men- 
tioned. If objections are urged on the ground of these 
omissions, it is surely permitted to us to reply, that from the 
celebration of sacrifices by Abel and the patriarchs, we 
justly infer its divine appointment: and from the glorious 
and singular institution of the Sabbath, its subsequent obser- 
vance by the holy seed.* 

* Owen. 



IN PARADISE. 53 

But we are proceeding* too long upon the concession that 
there are no traces in Scripture of a weekly rest, from the 
creation to the time of Moses. For in truth there are traces, 
faint, perhaps, if taken by themselves and separated from 
the first record of the institution in paradise, but sufficiently 
discernible in that connection, for the purpose of rebutting 
a mere objection. 

The very first act of divine worship after the fall affords 
indications of a day of religion. Cain and Abel brought 
their offering "in process of time," as the common reading 
has it, but literally, and as it is in the margin, "at the 
end of the days.' 5 Thus we have in the sacred narrative, 
the priest, altar, matter of sacrifice, motive, atonement 
made and accepted, and appointed time — indications these 
entirely consistent with the supposition of a previous sab- 
batical institution — and indeed proceeding upon it — for that 
is the meaning of the expression, "at the end of the days." 
But one division of days had been yet mentioned, and that 
ivas of the days of the week, the Sabbath being the last or 
seventh day — we may, therefore, reasonably suppose that 
holy season to be here termed, "the end of the days." 

Again, we read that "men," in the days of Seth, (two 
hundred years, perhaps, after Abel's sacrifice,) "began to 
call upon the name of the Lord," or "to call themselves by 
the name of the Lord;" and four hundred years later, "that 
Enoch walked with God"— terms of large import, and 
which, when illustrated by the eleventh chapter of the He- 
brews, where the faith of the patriarchs in the divine order 
of creation so highly extolled, are, to say the least, en- 
tirely consistent with the observation of a day of religious 
worship. 

We come to the flood. Sixteen centuries have elapsed 
since the institution of the weekly rest. And now we find 
the reckoning by weeks familiarly referred to as the ordi* 
nary division of time. The Lord said unto Noah, "Yet 
seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth." 
And again, "It came to pass after seven days, that the 
waters of the flood were upon the earth." These passa- 
ges occur in the seventh chapter. Then in the next, when 
the flood is decreasing, Noah sent out a dove, which return- 
ed; he then stayed "yet other seven days," and again sent 
it forth. And again in the same terms, "And he stayed 
5* 



54 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

yet other seven days," and a sent forth the dove out of 
ark for the third time, which returned not again to him any 
more." # Surely here are vestiges by no means doubtful, 
not only that days were reckoned by portions of seven, but 
that the use of that method of calculation was familiar in 
the line of the patriarchs. Nothing can be more certain 
than that the return of seven days brought something pe- 
culiar with it*, and we judge it probable, from the institu- 
tion of the Sabbath, that that peculiarity was the day of 
sacred rest. 

Accordingly after the flood, the tradition of that division 
of time spread over all the eastern world — Assyrians, 
Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, Persians, unite with the 
Israelites in retaining vestiges of it. In the earliest re- 
mains of the heathen writers, Hesiod, Homer, Callimachus 
— the sanctity of the seventh day is referred to as a mat- 
ter of notoriety. Philo, the Jew, declares that there was 
no nation under heaven where the opinion had not reached. 
The days of festival solemnities among the heathen had 
in all probability this source. Indeed, as the obscure no- 
tices of the original state of man, of the fall, of sacrifices, 
of the deluge, were scattered amongst the remotest nations, 
so also, faint traces of a weekly religious rest are discerni- 
ble. The very number seven, in Hebrew, and the kindred 
languages, is expressed by a word which primarily signifies 
fulness, completion, sufficiency; and was probably applied 
to a week because that was the space occupied in fully 
completing the work of creation. 

But we come to the history of Abraham. Here it is 
deserving notice, as we pass, that the rite of circumcision 
was to be performed after the lapse of seven days from the 
birth; but the commendation of Abraham's example, "That 
he commanded his children and his household after him, to 
keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment," 
implies that there was a way prescribed by the Almighty, 
and certain observances in which consisted justice and 
judgment, amongst which the Sabbath was probably the 
chief. But in the more full declaration afterwards made 
concerning him to Isaac;" "That Abraham obeyed his 
voice, and kept his charge, his commandments, his statutes, 

* Gen. vii. 4, 10; viii. 10, 12. 






IN PARADISE. 00 

and his laws;" the terms employed are so various, as to 
be by no means naturally interpreted of the ordinances 
of circumcision and sacrifice only,* but to include, as 
much as if it were named, the charge and law of the 
Sabbath. 

We come to Jacob; and few, I think, can doubt, that 
when he had uttered the devout exclamation, "This is none 
other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven;" 
and then vowed, that the "stone should be God's house" 
— he alluded to what was customary with the pious patri- 
archs, the worship of God in a stated place, and on a stated 
time — the Sabbath; without which, a house of God would 
be a term of little meaning; but with which it would indeed 
be the pledge and anticipation of heaven. Even Laban 
seems to have had the notion of a weekly division of time; 
"Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also.j" But 
I will not dwell on more particulars, The numerous, the 
almost perpetual notices of places, of altars, of sacrifices, 
of the worship of God, of solemn titles given to particular 
spots, all confirm the supposition, which is the only rea- 
sonable one, that the sabbatical institution was not unknown 
to the patriarchs. We may notice the case of holy Job, 
as confirming this, who, remote as was the place of his 
abode, more than once reminds us of "a day, when the 
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. "J 

So utterly gratuitous is the assumption that the observa- 
tion of a day of religious worship was unknown to the pa- 
triarchs. Probably the very notoriety of the institution 
might be one cause why the sacred historian judged it un- 
necessary to dwell on particular recurrences of its obser- 
vance. At all events, the very silence of Scripture after- 
wards, can never be fairly alleged against the previous in- 
stitution of the Sabbath in paradise, when even the ad- 
mission that the patriarchs had actually lost the traces, or 
neglected the celebration of it, would have had no such con- 
sequence. 

Doubtless, as time rolled on, and particularly during 
centuries of bondage in Egypt, the memory of this primaeval 
ordinance became faint, and the observation of it by the en- 

* Gen. xvii. 12; xviii. 19. xxvi. 5. 
t Gen. xxix. 27. \ Job i. IO5 ii. 11. 



56 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

slaved people almost impracticable. But it does not appear 
to have been even then wholly forgotten. For we observe, 
that, 

IV. The manner in which the Sabbath was 

REVIVED AND RE-ESTABLISHED BEFORE THE COMMENCE- 
MENT of the mosaical economy, proves that it was a 
previous institution, which had never been entirely lost; 
and therefore confirms all we stated of its origin in paradise 
and its continuance during the patriarchal ages. An in- 
terval uf two thousand five hundred years had elapsed since 
the fall, eight or nine hundred years had passed since the 
flood, and more than four hundred since the call of Abra- 
ham. Two centuries of captivity in Egypt had also re- 
duced the religious knowledge of the people of Israel to the 
lowest ebb. If, therefore, the authority of the Sabbath 
survived this last state of bondage, we may fairly conclude 
that it had not perished in any of the preceding periods. 
Mark the history. The manna is announced; a double 
portion is promised on a certain day. But in what terms? 
"It shall come to pass that on the next day they shall pre- 
pare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice 
as much as they gather daily. "* Here is no express men- 
tion of the Sabbath, nor any reason assigned why they 
should find a double portion on the sixth day. But the 
reason was known — the reference was intelligible. The 
language is not that of one delivering a new precept, but 
restoring an old and well-known, though neglected one. 
Accordingly, Moses, in explaining the fact, speaks of the 
sabbath as not effaced from the memory of the people. 
"This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the 
rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord your God." What 
had the Lord said? — nothing directly about the Sabbath; 
but the allusion to the division of time into six working days 
was enough — the Sabbath was known to follow them. If 
similar terms were employed in any modern act of parlia- 
ment, every one would understand that it referred to some 
previously existing statute or custom, of which the knowl- 
edge was not altogether lost. 

And thus the restoration of the Sabbath before the Mo- 
saical law, seems designed to link the patriarchal with the 

* Exodus xvi. 



IN PARADISE. 57 

Jewish day of rest; it proves that the first had not been 
altogether obliterated, and it shows that the second was 
founded on a law of primaeval and universal obligation; 
whilst the threefold miracle of the manna on each Sabbath, 
clearly points out the importance attached by Almighty God 
to the institution. 

On what particular day of the seven this renewed rest 
was first celebrated we cannot determine. The stress of 
the commandment lies on the proportion of time in the order 
of creation. The exact computation of weeks from the first 
institution, had in all probability been lost; and the new 
calculation, we may conjecture, dated from the day of the 
deliverance from Egypt, as the commencement of the year 
undoubtedly did. Thus the redemption of Israel may have 
fixed the particular day for reckoning the series of Sabbaths 
then; as a greater redemption did at the introduction of a 
more glorious era. 

But we pause. Our inquiries have hitherto been success- 
ful. All is consistent. The grandeur of creation gave an 
impulse and projection to the law of the Sabbath, which 
human corruption was unable to efface, even before Moses 
arose to recal men to the purity of religion, and the hope of 
future redemption. In the line of the patriarchs faint 
traces of it are discernible. The intervening re-enactment, 
before the ceremonial economy unites the patriarchal and 
Jewish day of rest; and confirms us, by its reference, in the 
faith of the positive fact of a previous institution, to which 
that reference points. 

I. Let us then, first, in applying this part of our sub- 
ject, observe, the extreme violence which is done 
to the christian faith, when any important fact in 
the Scriptures, such as the institution of the Sabbath in 
paradise, is attempted to be explained away by the fancy 
of man. The authors of such novelties think little of the 
consequences of what they are about. The thought is sug- 
gested to them by another. It is strange, it is hardy. — 
This commends it. They are ingenious men — they can 
write — they can defend the monstrous supposition. The 
great body of the church disregard and despise the perver- 
sion; but the young are injured. In an inquisitive age, 
half-knowledge prevails. The human heart is too much 
disinclined to spiritual religion, not to catch at any plea 



58 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

for neglecting the day of divine worship. Thus the evil 
spreads. The original author was not deeply penetrated 
•with that reverence for revelation as the communication of 
the will of God, which forbids rash innovation — was not, 
perhaps, conscious that the foundation of all faith is over- 
turned, if the plain, strait-forward interpretation of histor- 
ical passages is exchanged for conjecture, hypothesis, in- 
ventions of an anticipated narrative. But what can be so 
mischievous? Such daring criticism, like a magic wand, can 
make every truth and every fact of the Bible change their 
places and import. Indeed, this same kind of ingenuity 
denies the fact of the fall of man, calls in question the ex- 
istence of evil spirits, doubts the temptation of our Lord, 
and goes on to question the truth of the Mosaic or Chris- 
tian miracles. Thus all faith soon disappears; for it is but 
another step in the same process to deny the corruption of 
our nature by the fall, the divinity and atonement of Christ, 
the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the truth of our regenera- 
tion by that blessed spirit, and of spiritual religion altogeth- 
er. Thus the peculiar revelation of the Bible is gone, and 
yet we call ourselves Christians. 

We must resist this fatal poison. To say that the nar- 
rative of the institution of the Sabbath in Paradise is put out 
of its place, is a violence to faith. This is enough. When 
the idea is first started, the mind of the Christian trembles 
— he supposes he cannot demonstrate that the assertion is 
groundless. But he can demonstrate it. To change a 

SERIES OF EVENTS IN A SCRIPTURAL NARRATIVE IS A 
VIOLENCE TO THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF ALL BELIEF IN 

revelation. This is a moral demonstration against any 
mere hypothesis. 

And more especially should we act with this decision in 
respect to so fundamental a fact as the entire scheme and 
glory of creation, the whole design and proportion of divine 
wisdom in the order of the six days' work, the primary dis- 
tribution of time into its proportions for the use of man;— that 
first prodigious act on which the subsequent parts of revelation 
hang for their consistency and force. And this disposed 
of by a mere assumption — the fact transposed from the pe- 
riod of creation, to a distance of two or three thousand 
years, without an intimation in the narrative itself, against 



IN PARADISE. 59 

all the laws of interpretation, and to supply a necessity 
which, after all, is found not to exist. Such a conduct is 
portentous. 

Let us cleave, then, to the foundation of all faith in the 
various other facts of revelation, by adhering to this; and 
let us cultivate more and more that humility, that submis- 
sion of heart to God, that restraint of human curiosity and 
presumption, in which the essence of faith so much con- 
sists. It is the wrong state of heart which is the hot-bed 
where these pernicious notions are generated. Let the 
heart delight in the divine worship; let the heart meditate 
on the divine perfections in Christ Jesus with holy compla- 
cency; let the heart rejoice in God as its happiness, and 
such errors will not readily find entertainment. I vindicate 
the first Sabbath, that I may lead you to celebrate with 
more devotion every other. I resist with indignation the 
attempt to sap the institution of it in paradise, that I may 
lead you to due contemplation on the glories of creation, as 
often as the day of grace returns. 

II. Yes, come with me, before we close this discourse, 
and let us adore and praise the Almighty Father 
of all, for the distinct glories shed upon the day of 
religious repose. Come and praise him for condescending to 
imprint its first enactment, and the reasons on which it 
is grounded, on the six days creative wonders. I am per- 
suaded, that the first Sabbath is not enough magnified. 
We are familiar with the tenor of the simple and sublime 
narrative from our infancy. Our hearts are cold to devo- 
tion; objections poison our first feelings. Enter more into 
the dignity of that day, for the institution of which all days 
were formed. Imbibe the exalted spirit of that portion of 
time, to encircle and ennoble which all other portions took 
their place, as courtiers around the queen and mistress of 
days. No other command of God has the peculiarity of 
this; no other institution, no other service, no other ordi- 
nance of religion has, or caa have, the majesty blazing 
around it, which illuminates the day of God. Come, glorify 
your God and Father. He bids you rest, but it is after 
his own example. He bids you labor, but it is after his 
pattern. Imitate the supreme Architect. Work in the order 
in which he worked, cease when he was pleased to cease. 
Let the day of religion, after each six days' toil, be to you 



60 INSTITUTION OF SABBATH 

a blessed and a sanctified season. Plead the promise at- 
tached to the Sabbath: it is blessed of God, it is sanctified 
of God, it is hallowed of God. Implore forgiveness of 
your past neglect. Let no Sabbath henceforth leave you, 
without having sought the blessing promised, and performed 
the duties to which it is dedicated. Let your devout med- 
itation on the glories of creation swell the choir of your 
Maker's praise. Join "the sons of God" in their joys 
and songs at the birth of the universe.* Adore the kind- 
ness and benevolence of the Almighty, in interposing one 
day's repose after every six, between the toil, and confusion, 
and passions, and secularity of this world's duties. Bless 
your Redeemer and Savior for preserving some traces of 
this most ancient of institutions amidst the patriarchal ages, 
to remind us of our greater privileges, (as we shall see in 
the subsequent discourses,) now that we have had the ten 
commandments again promulgating its divine obligation; 
the prophets enforcing its observance; the blessed Jesus 
vindicating its gracious simplicity; the Apostles and the 
universal church handing down to us its sacred obligations. 
Yes, let the brighter day of the gospel guide our feet to 
that sacred temple and that sacred season, which were first 
erected and consecrated in paradise, which were then sur- 
rounded with the garb of ceremonies; then left in the beauti- 
ful and merciful mantle of the Savior; and, lastly, committed 
to us as a pledge and foretaste of the heavenly state. Yes, 
the Sabbath stretches through all ages; affects all men in ev- 
ery period of time; distinguishes the true servants of God from 
the wicked more than any other ordinance; upholds the 
visible profession of religion before the eyes of mankind; 
keeps up the face and aspect of Christianity in the world; 
is the most direct honor that a man can pay to the name 
and will of the ever-blessed God; and will never cease in 
its authority here till our Sabbaths on earth give place to 
that eternal Sabbath of which they are the pledge, the 
preparation, the end. 

* Prov. viii. 23—31. 



SERMON II. 



THE AUTHORITY AND DIGNITY OF THE SABBATH 
UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES. 



Exodus xx. 8 — 11. 

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days 
shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh 
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou 
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh- 
ter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cat- 
tle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : For in 
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; where- 
fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallow- 
ed it. 

Having proved that the Sabbath was instituted in paradise 
by adhering simply to the inspired record, and having si- 
lenced the objection raised on the supposed absence of any 
vestiges of its observance till the time of Moses; we come 
now to consider the position which it held under the cere- 
monial dispensation. And here the objection to its divine au- 
thority and obligation rests on its being merely a ceremonial 
and temporary appointment, which lost its force with the 
economy which gave it birth. This difficulty has already 
been virtually removed. For if the narration in the book of 
Genesis is correctly given; if the patriarchs cannot be 
proved to have neglected the divine command; and if at the 
6 



62 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

deliverance from Egypt, Moses clearly referred to it as 
not effaced from the memory of the people; then the Sab- 
bath did not owe its birth to the ceremonial law, and can- 
not have ceased by the abrogation of it. But this is little. 
As we not only answered the objection advanced against 
the patriarchal Sabbath, but triumphantly established its 
essential dignity and perpetuity from the glory cast upon it 
by the order of creation; so we hope, not merely to refute 
the present objection, but to draw from the law of Moses 
copious materials for confirming all our preceding argu- 
ments, and for placing in a yet stronger light the immuta- 
ble obligation of a day of weekly rest. 

We assert, then, that from the very commencement of 
the Mosaical economy, the fourth command was incorpo- 
rated in the moral law — that when the ceremonial usages 
were in their greatest vigor, the Sabbath appeared high 
and distinct above them — and that in the latter ages of 
the Jewish church it was insisted on by the prophets as of 
essential moral obligation, and as about to form a part of 
the gospel dispensation. 

I. The insertion of the law of the Sabbath into the 
decalogue confirms all we have already advanced, and af- 
fords the most decisive proof of its perpetual force. If 
there were nothing else in the whole Bible, this would be 
enough to satisfy the humble Christian. The fourth com- 
mandment is just as binding as any of the remaining nine. 
There it is, a part of the moral law of God! If the at- 
tempt to feign an anticipated history was proved to be an 
invasion on the first principles of faith; the endeavor to 
displace the fourth commandment is an open invasion 

OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES BOTH OF FAITH AND OBE- 
DIENCE. For every thing conspires to cast an importance 
around the ten commandments peculiar to themselves. 

Consider the broad line of demarcation between 
them and the ceremonial usages. The decalogue is a 
summary of all those dictates of the love of God and man, 
which were written upon the heart of Adam before the fall. 
These commands were kept, in substance, by the patri- 
archs before they were reduced into a code. They are 
the eternal rules of right and wrong, resting on the author- 
itative will of God, and arising from the essential relations 
in which man stands to his Creator and his fellow-creatures. 






LAW OF MOSES. 



63 



They are the standard of human obedience, the transcript of 
the divine holiness. The unchanging authority of these pre- 
cepts is the foundation of the Christian religion, the rule of 
domestic life, the bond of civil government, the grand tie and 
security of all human society. Between these and the cer- 
emonial usages there is a vast interval. The judicial and 
ceremonial law was temporary, of positive enactment, for 
a time and for certain purposes only; had no existence be- 
fore its express appointment; derived all its force from 
something substantial and glorious, of which it was the 
shadow; and was swept away and abrogated when the 
more perfect dispensation appeared. All its enactments 
were without the boundary of the moral law. Within that 
boundary nothing was abolished when Christ came; with- 
out it, every thing. Within the boundary all was eternal 
and immutable; without it, all was temporary and change- 
able. No confusion was ever made by any considerate 
Christian on this subject. The conscience of man, when 
duly informed, responds to every one of the moral commands. 
The additional motives appended to some of them, arising 
from the circumstances of the Jews, affect not their univer- 
sal authority. The particular redemption from Egypt, the 
length of days attached to filial obedience, the punishment 
of idolatry visited on the third and fourth generation, and the 
mercies to thousands promised to the keepers of the divine 
law, # in no respect change the main, grand, distinctive 
foundations of moral obligation on which the commandments 
repose. These constitute a code, a book, which stands 
distinct and separate from all others, which is divided into 
two tables, and has been known in all ages as the "Ten 
Commandments," or "The Decalogue;" just as the books 
of Scripture are distinguished from other books by the name 
of "The Bible." 

Now, of these ten commands the law of the sab- 
bath is one. Whatever authority any have, that au- 
thority is possessed by this. Whatever obligation the first, 
the second, the third, or any others carry with them, that 
same obligation carries with it the fourth. If men are 

* Even these are, in their comprehensive and typical import, of per- 
petual force — in the redemption of Christ; the spiritual blessing on filial 
obedience, &c. 



64 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

bound in every age and under all dispensations to acknowl- 
edge one only God,* to worship him, not with graven im- 
ages, but in spirit and in truth,| to reverence the divine 
name,J to obey their parents,^ to abstain from murder,(| 
adultery,TT theft, ## false-witness,|f concupiscence, JJ they 
are equally bound to consecrate a Sabbath to their Ma- 
ker's service, after six days of ordinary labor and toil. ^5 
This proportion of time had been made known to man in 
paradise, and published in the very order of creation. The 
natural and essential duty, therefore, of devoting some time 
to the worship of God, being thus expounded by a revela- 
tion of what that time should be, the whole stands a 
moral and unchanging rule of man's obedience. As the first 
command fixes the object of worship, and the second the 
means, and the third the reverential manner, so the 
fourth determines the time. And as the preceding com- 
mands are founded in the real relations of things, and made 
clear to us by the authoritative will of God, so the fourth is 
founded on the real relation of things, and made clear to us 
by the authoritative will of God. The only difference is, 
that the other commands, requiring no limitation of time, 
were more obvious in all their parts to the consciences of 
men, whilst this depended, from the very nature of the case, 
upon the revelation of God's will as to the exact proportion 
of time to be consecrated to his service. The authority of 
that appointment, however, when once made known, is as 
inviolable as any of the others. The fourth commandment 
is an integral part of the moral law. 

And now let us advert to the tenor of this fourth pre- 
cept. It is unlike the rest, it is more detailed, more ex- 
plicit, extended to more classes of persons, sustained by 
more reasons. Its introduction also is different. Instead 
of a mere injunction or prohibition, it refers to a preceding 
enactment, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;" 
as if on purpose to connect the law of the Sabbath in par- 
adise with its republication at the solemn establishment of 
the Mosaical dispensation — a design which is made yet more 
apparent at the close of the commandment, by the citation 
of the reason given, and of the blessing and sanctification 

* 1st Commandment. f 2nd. $ 3rd. § 5th. || 6th. 

IT 7th. ** 8th. ft 9th. moth. §§ 4th. 



LAW OF MOSES. 00 

attached to the institution by the Almighty, when he first 
granted a day of rest to man at his creation. 

Nor is the place which this fourth precept occupies in 
the decalogue to be overlooked. It is the last of the first 
table of the law, and prepares for the second. It is the 
keeper and guardian of the preceding commands, and the 
preparation for the following. It makes the three first 
precepts practicable. For after faith in one God, worship 
to him, and reverence for his name, it prescribes the time 
in which this pure worship of the only true God is to be 
celebrated, the persons who are to unite in it, and the in- 
terruption to all ordinary labors without which it cannot be 
performed. So that as the tenth commandment shuts up 
the second table, and reduces, as it were, its injunc- 
tions to practice, by forbidding that concupiscence which 
would infallibly lead to their violation; so the fourth accom- 
plishes the first table by assigning the time and season 
when its injunctions may be fulfilled. 

We must not pass unnoticed, also, that the whole moral 
law, held together, as it were, by the fourth of its precepts, 

WAS PUBLISHED BERORE THE CEREMONIAL ENACTMENTS 

of Moses. It stands, not in the midst of the ceremonies, 
but distinct and separate from them. The Mosaical law- 
did not, properly speaking, begin till after these primary 
rules of obedience, which man had almost lost through the 
corruption of his nature and the lapse of time, were restor- 
ed by a solemn republication. 

Nor can it be said with truth, that the law of the Sab- 
bath is merely of a ceremonial nature, because the strict- 
ness of its observation was relaxed under the 
New Testament. For even allowing the fact; a change 
in the tone and spirit of a commandment, springing from a 
more benignant dispensation, affects not its fundamental 
moral authority. But we deny the fact. The ceremonial 
and judicial enactments which were afterwards connected 
with it, form no part of the fourth commandment, the tenor 
of which was always intended to be interpreted according 
to the merciful construction which our Savior put upon it, 
against the uncommanded comments of the Jewish doctors. 
The prohibition of doing any work never included, nor was 
intended to include, acts of real necessity and mercy. The 
whole moral bearing of this command is just as entire now, 
6* 



66 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

as the whole moral bearing of any other of the divine code. 
"I will have mercy and not sacrifice," was an axiom of the 
Mosaic, as well as the Christian economy, as will be seen 
in our next discourse. 

It is painful to have occasion to say so much on so plain 
a case; and nothing but the great importance of the sub- 
ject would warrant such a detail. The fourth command, 
then, is not displaced from its station, nor weakened in its 
authority by the objection we have been considering. On 
the contrary, every aspect in which it is viewed, heightens 
our conception of the dignity which it derives, equally with 
the rest, from the broad line of demarcation which separates 
it from the merely ceremonial observances. 

And now we must go on to consider the solemnities 

WHICH ATTENDED THE PROMULGATION OF THE MORAL 

law, of which the fourth command is so distinguished a 
part. These differed from the majesty which accompanied 
the first institution of the day of rest in Eden. Then it 
was enregistered in the bold and legible characters of the 
six days' order of creation; whilst the written record was 
brief and general. Now it is surrounded, in common with 
the remaining elementary branches of duty, with those 
traits of visible glory, that awful voice of words, that de- 
tailed record, that reference to a preceding enactment, 
those reasons of universal application, which, after a lapse 
of two thousand five hundred years, were best adapted to 
explain its import, and ensure human obedience in all future 
periods of time. The moral law stands singular and alone, 
amidst the revelations made to Moses. The other com- 
munications were by more ordinary and usual means; the 
ten commandments by the immediate voice of God. The 
other parts of the Jewish economy were conveyed by calm 
impressions; this by thunderings and lightnings, and at- 
tendant angels, and the trembling mount, and the dark- 
ness, and all the terrors at which Moses "exceedingly fear- 
ed and quaked." Recal to mind the solemn scene, that 
you may imbibe the full dignity of all the precepts of the 
moral law, and of the sabbatical amongst the number. 
Hear; the trump sounds, and the voice of words are utter- 
ed. See; no one but the holy prophet may approach — "if 
so much as a beast touch the mountain, it is stoned or thrust 
through with a dart." Behold; two tables of stone are 



LAW OF MOSES. 67 

prepared by the Almighty himself. Upon these the finger 
of God inscribes "The Ten Commandments," and addeth 
no more. The tables are broken by Moses as he de- 
scends from the mount — and, lo, the law is re-written on 
second tables with the same hand; and is finally deposited, 
not with the rest of the Mosaic statutes, but separate and 
alone, within the ark of the covenant. Can any circum- 
stances impress us with a more awful sense of the singular 
importance of every precept? Can any thing more distin- 
guish and elevate the moral and perpetual, above the tem- 
porary and ceremonial law — and separate and single out 
the decalogue in point of dignity and prominence from all 
other enactments? The whole Bible contains nothing so 
peculiar and majestic, as this introduction to this new dis- 
pensation. Where is the man that will venture to lessen 
the number of the commandments? Where is the man 
that from ten will presume to reduce them to nine ? Where 
is the Protestant that will expunge, with the Church of 
Rome, the command which happens most to militate against 
his corrupt practices?^ Where is the man that will oblit- 
erate that precept especially, which so immediately re- 
spects the honor of God and the glory offered to his 
name, which, standing in the very heart of the code, binds 
its injunctions together, and gives strength and consistence 
to the whole? 

I conceive it is impossible for simple-minded Christians 
to consider these things, and not to see at once the marked 
distinction between the shadow and types of a particular 
dispensation, and the eternal rules of right and wrong. 
Their prayer, I am persuaded, will continue to be, as to 
each particular commandment, and as to the fourth no less 
than the others, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and in- 
cline our hearts to keep this law;" and as to the entire 
series, without exception or difference, "Lord, write all 
these thy laws on our hearts, we beseech thee." 

II. But we proceed to show, that even when the cer- 
emonial USAGES WERE IN THEIR GREATEST VIGOR, 

the Sabbath appeared high and distinct above 

THEM. 

* The Popish catechisms have frequently omitted the second com- 
mandment; the practice may now be discontinued perhaps. 



68 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

For the law of the weekly rest passes through the Mosa- 
ical dispensation. It will be important, then, to show its 
position during this part of its course. It entered this econ- 
omy, or rather proceeded it, by the promulgation of the 
moral law, of whose majesty and perpetuity it partakes. 
It now, however, receives additional rules and appendages, 
which attend it during the continuance of the Mosaic dis- 
pensation. But it is remarkable that these ceremonial en- 
actments are no part of the essential law of the Sabbath as 
inserted in the decalogue; and that even during the greatest 
vigor and first observance of them, the moral obligation of 
the day of weekly rest lifts up its head high and distinct 
above them. These are the points which we are now to prove. 

For the Sabbath is now a part of that preparatory dis- 
pensation, and is attired with robes of state and ceremony 
during that period. Two Lambs are offered on its weekly 
return, beside the usual burnt-offering; the shew-bread is 
renewed on the golden table; the ministers of the temple 
enter on their courses; other times of holy solemnity are in- 
stituted and included under the general name of Sabbaths; 
its external rest is enforced with temporal sanctions; the 
presumptuous violater of it is subjected to the punishment of 
death; it is constituted a sign of the national covenant, and 
is enjoined as a public protest against idolatry; finally, the 
spirit of bondage and condemnation lowers over this part, 
as over every other, of the introductory economy of Moses. 

Here, then, for the first time, we recognize the features 
of a ceremonial Sabbath. Many commandments of the 
decalogue, and the fourth amongst the number, are now 
invested with temporary statutes, as "shadows of good 
things to come," or parts of the peculiar theocracy of the 
Jews. 

But the essential moral character of each precept of the 
decalogue loses none of its force by its ceremonial and judi- 
cial observances. The sin of worshipping any but the one 
true God, remains just as great, after all the numerous stat- 
utes peculiar to the Jews. The sin of making graven 
images, of taking God's name in vain, of disobeying parents, 
of committing murder, adultery, theft, of bearing false- 
witness, of coveting the goods of our neighbor, are pre- 
cisely the same violations of the immutable rules of right 
and wrong, as before the temporary enactments which af- 



LAW OF MOSES. 69 

fected the chosen people. In like manner, the fourth com- 
mandment is unaltered in its essential injunction of a 
weekly religious rest for the service of God, though it is 
associated with many temporary and figurative appendages. 
Nothing can be clearer than this. The principle is ad- 
mitted with regard to nine of the commandments, and can 
never be fairly refused as to the tenth. 

And accordingly not one of these ceremonial and civil 
statutes is incorporated in the ten commandments them- 
selves — not one is written with the finger of God — not 
one is found on the consecrated tables — not one is deposit- 
ed within the ark of the covenant. They are all delivered 
afterwards, in another form, with other views, and to oc- 
cupy another station. 

But let us go on and follow the Sabbath as it passes 
through the ceremonial dispensation. It might, indeed, 
have pleased God, that it should have been entirely shroud- 
ed by this dispensation during its continuance. It would 
then have lost none of its original force, and we should 
merely have had to resume our consideration of it, after it 
had been disembarrassed from the emblematical ceremo- 
nies. But this is not the state of the case. The Sabbath 
lifts up its head high above all the ceremonial usages, even 
in the Pentateuch itself, and during the full vigor of the 
introductory economy. 

For first, after the record of the promulgation of the 
decalogue, three chapters of judicial statutes follow; but 
in the midst of these, the people are reminded of the es- 
sential importance of the Sabbath, in a manner quite dis- 
tinct and peculiar. It is associated with the primary duty 
of worshipping the one true God, as of equal obligation, 
and indeed as necessary to it. "Six days shalt thou do 
thy work, and on the seventh thou shalt rest, . . in all 
things that I have said unto thee, be circumspect, and 
make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it 
be heard out of thy mouth. "* This is sufficiently remark- 
able. 

Again, after six chapters more concerning the tabernacle 
and its various services and sacrifices, the whole communi- 
cation of the forty days' abode on the mount is concluded 

* Exod. xxiii. 12, 13. 



70 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

with a re-inculcation of the Sabbath-rest, in a manner the 
most solemn and affecting. a And the Lord spake unto 
Moses saying, verily my Sabbath ye shall keep; for it is a 
sign between me and you throughout your generations, 

THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LoRD THAT DOTH 

sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it 
is holy unto you; every one that defileth it shall surely be 
put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that 
soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may 
work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, 
holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work in the Sab- 
bath-day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the 
children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the 
Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual cov- 
enant. It is .a sign between me and the children of Israel 
for ever, for in six' days the Lord made heaven and earth, 
and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed."* 
Can any thing give dignity to the sacred day as founded in 
the essential relation of man to his Maker and Redeemer, 
if this sublime language does not? Every idea of sanctifi- 
cation, every sense of importance from a sign of a covenant 
between God and man, every sanction derived from the 
awful punishment of death, unite to impress upon us the 
duty; whilst the proportion noted between the working days 
and the day of rest, and the reason drawn from the order 
of creation, extend the obligation to every human being. 

In the following two chapters we have as many addi- 
tional recapitulations, with fresh cautions. The book of 
Exodus closes. The enactments concerning sacrifices and 
purifications are, however, no sooner despatched in the fol- 
lowing book, than we meet with a passage in which one 
commandment of the second table of the moral law, and 
two of the first, are united with the fourth commandment 
as of equal obligation, and this as a matter well known 
and requiring no explanation; "Ye shall be holy, for I the 
Lord your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his 
mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths; I am the 
Lord your God. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make- to 
yourselves molten images; I am the Lord your God."f 

* Exod. xxxi. 12—17. t Lev. xix. 1—4. 



LAW OF MOSES. 71 

I will not dwell on other passages in this book. I has- 
ten to fix your attention on the punishment of death inflict- 
ed on the Sabbath-breaker, as recorded in the next. Few 
persons consider how deeply this case is designed to im- 
press us with the essential obligation of the fourth com- 
mandment, and of the immediate honor of God involved in 
a presumptuous violation of it. This last point is not to be 
overlooked. The man was not condemned merely for 
gathering sticks on the Sabbath; but for doing this in the 
face of the divine prohibition. Accordingly he was put in 
ward, till the will of God should be distinctly known. 
The whole proceeding was marked with a cairn solemnity 
which makes the warning more pointed and decisive. The 
"soul that doeth aught presumptuously, whether he be born 
in the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; 
and that soul shall be cut off from among his people; be- 
cause he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath 
broken his commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off, 
his iniquity shall be upon him. And while the children of 
Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that 
gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-day. And they that 
found him gathering sticks, brought him unto Moses and 
Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in 
ward, because it was not declared what should be done to 
him. And the Lord said unto Moses, the man shall be 
surely put to death. "* 

I add only the striking passage, in which, at the close 
of life, Moses re-inculcates, as a preacher, the command- 
ments which he had delivered before as a legislator. In 
this recapitulation, the other nine precepts of the deca- 
logue stand as they were first promulgated from Mount 
Sinai — at least, the variations are extremely slight, but 
the fourth is amplified and enforced with many additional 
motives, as if it claimed more regard than any other. 
"Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy 
God commanded thee: six days thou shalt labor and do all 
thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 
thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy 
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid- 
servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, 

* Numb. xv. 30—35. 



72 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man- 
servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. 
And remember thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, 
and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through 
a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm; therefore the 
Lord thy God commandeth thee to keep the Sabbath-day. "* 
What a distinction does this amplitude of detail confer on 
the law of the Sabbath! And how does this and the 
passages before cited, take out this commandment from 
the mere ceremonial and positive institutions with which 
for a time it is mingled, and lift up its head in the midst of 
the temporary and fugitive elements of the Jewish polity! 
How evidently does even the Pentateuch exhibit it as a 
moral precept, directed to the highest ends, beyond what 
was peculiar to the Mosaical dispensation, and losing 
nothing of its permanent and essential force from the com- 
bination! 

III. But proceed we to show that, in the latter ages of 
the Jewish church, the weekly Sabbath was insisted upon 

BY THE PROPHETS AS OF ESSENTIAL MORAL OBLIGA- 
TION, AND AS DESTINED TO FORM A PART OF THE GOS- 
PEL DISPENSATION. 

Hitherto the objection raised against the perpetuity of 
the Sabbath on the ground of its being a merely ceremo- 
nial enactment, has not only been silenced, but refuted. It 
is a constituent part of the moral law: to call it a mere 
ceremony, is to sap all the foundations of faith and obedience. 
During the vigor of the ceremonial usages, it lifts up its 
head above them, and is enforced as of moral obligation: 
to call it a mere ceremony, is to be ignorant of the very 
first facts of the case. 

But we now go on to the prophets, the reformers of the 
degenerate people, the preachers of the divine will, the 
seers of the gospel age, the assertors of the moral and 
eternal rule of duty, the bold proclaimers of the law of 
conscience and the bonds of a covenant relation with God. 
If they are found to urge the spiritual observance of the 
day of rest, as designed to form a part of the evangelical 
economy; and if they do this at the very time that they 
cast contempt on the mere outward ceremonies of the Jew- 

* Deut. v. 12—15. 



LAW OF MOSES. 73 

ish law — if they are found to denounce the divine indigna- 
tion on no transgression, except idolatry, with so much 
vehemence — and if they appear anxious to reform the man- 
ners of the people in this capital point more than in any 
other, — then our argument gains strength at every step, 
and the divine institution will stand at the margin of the 
Christian dispensation, ready to enter it, in common with 
the other branches of essential religion. 

Consider then, in the first place, the language of the 
Book of Psalms, and observe how little allusion is made 
to the ceremonial rites connected with the Sabbath, and 
how completely the stress is laid on the permanent and 
spiritual duties of that holy season. The Jewish Sabbath 
was indeed now in force. But it is upon the praises of 
God generally — his glory, his majesty, his compassion, his 
providence, his redemption, that the Psalmist dwells. 
"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek 
after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the 
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to 
inquire in his temple. . . How amiable are thy tabernacles, 
O Lord of hosts, my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for 
the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh crieth out 
for the living God ... I was glad when they said unto 
me, Let us go unto the house of the Lord."* 

These are detached passages. In the 92nd Psalm we 
have an express hymn or song for the Sabbath-day, the 
topics of which are spiritual, and not ceremonial. First, 
the praises of God are enjoined, which are the proper busi- 
ness of the Sabbath;| then the wonders of God in crea- 
tion, the very reason for the institution;! next, the dealings 
of the divine providence in the overthrow of the wicked ;§ 
and lastly, the operations of grace in the fruitfulness, even 
to old age, of those who "are planted in the house of the 
Lord."|| 

Contrast with this the language of the 50th Psalm, in 
which a marked disregard is shown for mere ceremonies: 
"I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt- 
ofterings to have been continually before me. I will take 
no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. 

* Psalm xxvii. 84 ; 120. f Ver. 1—3. t Ver. 4, 5. 

§ Ver. 6—11. || Ver. 12—15. 

7 



74 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon 
a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains 
and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hun- 
gry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the 
fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the 
blood of goats, &,c. ?" In this denunciation, you will ob- 
serve that nothing is included which in the least belongs to 
the essential matters extolled in the former Psalms. 

In like manner, with what holy indignation does the 
prophet Isaiah reject the mere outward observan- 
ces of the Jewish law: "to what purpose is the multitude 
of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord; I am full of the 
burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I 
delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he- 
goats. Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomi- 
nation unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling 
of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the 
solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed 
feasts my soul hateth, they are a trouble to me, 1 am 
weary to bear them."* In this vehement expostulation 
the Sabbaths, including that of the weekly rest, are swept 
away, when superstitiously relied on, in one common repro- 
bation. 

But with what earnestness, on the contrary, is the due 
celebration of the sabbath extolled in the subse- 
quent chapter — how is it placed on a level with the plain- 
est moral precepts — how is the not polluting of it made 
the principal thing that pleases God— and how are the 
largest promises of the evangelical dispensation 
connected with such a spiritual consecration of the holy-day! 
"Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man 
that Iayeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from pol- 
luting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." Here 
the observation of the weekly day of rest is spoken of as 
a great part of holiness of life, and is placed among moral 
duties. The prophet proceeds, neither let the son of the 
stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, say- 
ing, the Lord hath utterly separated me from his people; 
neither let the eunuch say, behold I am a dry tree. For 
thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sab- 

* Isaiah i. 11 — 14. 



3 



LAW OF MOSES. 75 

baths and do the things that please me, and take hold of 
my covenant. Even unto them will I give in mine house 
and within my walls, a name better than of sons and of 
daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that 
shall not be cut off'." The prophet is here speaking of the 
gospel age, when the ceremonial law which prohibited 
eunuchs from coming into the congregation of the Lord, 
shall be abolished; yet the eunuchs, when thus at liberty 
from the law of ceremonies, are described as being still 
under an obligation to keep the Sabbath. Nay, they are 
directed to use this very method of obtaining a share in the 
blessings of Messiah's kingdom. And so with regard to 
the Gentiles generally, here called strangers; "also the 
sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to 
serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his ser- 
vants, every one that keepeththe Sabbath from polluting it, 
and taketh hold of my covenant;" where we notice again, 
that the sanctification of the Sabbath is put on the same 
footing with the laying hold of God's covenant, the serving 
the Lord, the loving the name of the Lord, the being his 
servants — and is indeed described as the main proof of 
all those parts of essential piety. The prophet then adds 
this evangelical promise, which by our Lord's own citation 
is predictive of the gospel-state — "Even them will I bring 
to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of 
prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be ac- 
cepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an 
house of prayer for ill people." The Gentiles, then, who 
shall be called in the times of the gospel, will be under the 
same duty of keeping the Sabbath; and shall thus be 
made "joyful in that house of prayer" which is destined 
for all people. All this falls in exactly with another pre- 
diction of the same inspired writer, the language being still 
in the terms of the dispensation then prevailing. "It shall 
come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from 
one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship 
before me, saith the Lord;" which has constantly been 
fulfilling in the Christian church, when all flesh have 
worshipped before the Lord in that weekly day of religious 
rest into which the Jewish new moons and sabbatical peri- 
ods have subsided. Add to this the description which the 
same divine author gives of the duties of the Sabbath. They 



76 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

have so clearly a moral obligation and universal force, and 
involve atone of devotion so elevated, that we may truly say, 
If the Sabbath be a ceremony, we have lost under the gos- 
pel one of the brightest glories of revelation. "If thou 
turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleas- 
ure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, holy 
of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing 
thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking 
thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the 
Lord, &c."* 

But we pass from this class of passages, to notice those 

DENUNCIATIONS OF THE SIN OF VIOLATING THE SABBATH, 

which are only surpassed by the anger of the Almighty 
against idolatry itself, with which, indeed, it seems ever to 
have had a close affinity. We have already noticed the 
sentence executed early in the history of the sacred peo- 
ple on the presumptuous sabbath-breaker. But hear the 
prophet Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Lord, Take heed to 
yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath-day, nor 
bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem: neither carry forth 
a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath-day, neither do 
ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath-day, as I com- 
manded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither 
inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff that they 
might not hear nor receive instruction. But if ye will 
not hearken unto me — then will I kindle a fire in the gates 
thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and 
it shall not be quenched."! All the prosperity of the na- 
tion, all the favor of God is suspended on this one branch 
of moral obedience. To judge of the force of this, con- 
trast it with the same prophet's declaration concerning 
ceremonial observances: "for I spake not unto your fathers, 
nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of 
the land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices. 
But this one thing commanded I them, saying, obey my 
voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. "J 
Again, mark how the prophet Amos reproaches the de- 
generate people with an impatience of the holy services of 
the Sabbath and other festivals: "Hear this, O ye that 
swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to 

* Isaiah lviii. 10, 13. t Jer. xvii. 19—27. 

t Jer. vii. 22, 23. 



LAW OF MOSES. 77 

fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone that we may 
sell corn, and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat!* 
The prophet Ezekiel follows. He lived later than Jer- 
emiah and Amos. The Babylonish captivity had now be- 
gun; and the peculiar aggravation of the people's sins is 
represented to be their profanation of the Sabbath: "More- 
over, I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me 
and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that 
sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against 
me; my Sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I will 
pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness to con- 
sume them." The charge is repeated again and again in 
the course of the expostulation, and is connected with the 
sin of idolatry and of direct contempt of the majesty of the 
Lord: "They despised my judgments and walked not in 
my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths; for their heart went 
after their idols. ""j* Similar charges are reiterated in sub- 
sequent chapters of this and the other prophets, and like 
threatenings denounced. 

And what was the particular reformation which 
Ezra, and Nehemiah, and the prophets after the captivity, 
were most anxious to effect upon the first return of the peo- 
ple from Babylon? We are now come to the last trace of 
prophetical revelation. The Old Testament canon is clos- 
ing. What do the last inspired teachers and leaders tes- 
tify? What was their chief care? What their main 
object? Was it not to restore the house of God's wor- 
ship? to rebuild the temple? to recal the people to the 
sanctity of the Sabbath? I omit other points, to exhibit 
the noble conduct of Nehemiah when he found the men of 
Tyre bringing fish and selling it on the sacred day. Mark 
his warmth of reproach. Observe his appeal to the past 
history of the nation. Notice that the whole transaction 
rests, not on any ceremonial rite omitted or despised, but 
on the violation of the grand fundamental duty of the relig- 
ious rest of God. "In those days saw I in Judah, some 
treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in 
sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, 
and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jeru- 
salem on the Sabbath-day; and I testified against them in 

* Amos viii. 11. t Ezek. xx. 12, 13, 16. 

7* 



78 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of 
Tyre also therein, which brought fish and all manner of ware, 
and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah and in 
Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, 
and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and 
profane the Sabbath-day? Did not your fathers thus, and 
did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this 
city ? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the 
Sabbath. And it came to pass, that when the gates of 
Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I com- 
manded that the gates should be shut, and charged that 
they should not be opened till after the Sabbath; and some 
of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no 
burden be brought in on the Sabbath-day. And I com- 
manded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, 
and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify 
the Sabbath-day."* 

Thirty or forty years after this, the prophet Mala- 
chi utters the last predictions, and gives the last warnings, 
before the coming of Messiah. And on what does he so 
much insist, as on the contempt into which the ordinances 
of God were sunk, and on the indignation of the Almighty 
which was about to follow? They "offered polluted bread." 
No one would "shut the temple-doors for nought." They 
said, "The table of the Lord is contemptible." They 
said, "Behold, what a weariness is it!" "And ye have 
snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts." "Ye have said, It 
is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have 
kept his ordinances." "Therefore," adds the prophet, 
"the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the 
proud, and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble. "f 

Such is the estimate which we are led to form of the es- 
sential moral character of the law of the Sabbath, from a 
review of every part of the Old Testament. More than 
three thousand six hundred years since the first Sabbath 
have now elapsed. The sacred institution stands on the 
margin of the New Testament dispensation. We naturally 
inquire, then, what we might expect to be its dignity, if we 
find nothing directly to the contrary, in the kingdom of Mes- 
siah? It derived not its authority from the Levitical law, 

* Nehemiah xiii. 15, 21, 22. t Mai. i. 6, 7, 13; iii. 14} iv. 1. 



LAW OF MOSES. 79 

it could lose, therefore, none of its sanctity by the abroga- 
tion of it. The same respect would be due to it as before 
that intervening dispensation. Whatever the Sabbath was 
when it entered the Mosaic ritual, that would it be when 
it came from it. The cessation of the ceremonial law 
would no more release the worshipper of God from the ob- 
servation of a weekly rest, than it would cancel the in- 
junction of filial piety, or the prohibition of theft, murder, 
adultery, false witness, or concupiscence. The importance 
of all we have been considering is in this view very mate- 
rial. We have shown its divine institution in paradise, the 
traces of its observance during the patriarchal ages, its 
re-enactment in the wilderness before the Mosaical econo- 
my, at the miraculous fall of manna. We have also noti- 
ced its solemn incorporation in the ten commandments — the 
awful glories of that promulgation — its dignity above all 
the ceremonies of the Jewish religion — its essential and 
perpetual obligation as inculcated by the prophets, and des- 
tined to form a part of the gospel age. It comes forth, 
therefore, from the hand of Moses with all its pristine au- 
thority, which it had, in fact, never lost as to any portion 
of the human race, except as the corruption of man had 
perverted or forgotten the original institution. 

Nay, it enters the gospel dispensation with more than 
its patriarchal majesty and obligation. It has been accu- 
mulating, not diminishing, its claims upon men, by all the 
testimonies to its essential importance which Moses and the 
prophets gave. It has acquired new force, new evidence, 
new illustration, by its position under an economy which, if 
it had been merely a ceremony, would have buried it amid 
a thousand surrounding rites. 

The gospel will, therefore, we may conclude, secure to 
the original institution of the Sabbath more ample scope, 
higher obligations, and a more elevated position of dignity 
and importance. The gospel is the last and most perfect 
dispensation, — the completion of all the preceding, the 
time of enlarged privilege, of superabundant grace! If, 
therefore, a weekly day of repose and religious worship 
was granted to the saints of the patriarchal dispensations 
— and if even under the law of bondage this blessing was 
continued to the Jew, much more will it be vouchsafed to 
the Christian, — much more will it accompany "the law of 



80 *THl£ SABBATTH UNDER THE 

liberty." We may be sure that the boon is not revoked; 
we may be sure that man is not doomed now to seven days' 
labor instead of six; we may be sure that his time for 
worshipping God is not abridged, nor the pledge of the 
covenant of grace lessened and restrained. 

But this is not all. The Sabbath had been increasing 
in its moral influence upon man from the first institution. 
Every fresh motive to the love of God, every ray of glory 
from Mount Sinai, every prophecy of a future Savior, had 
been augmenting proportionably his duty, by affording him 
more copious aids in fulfilling it. Christians, then, being 
favored with a clearer knowledge of the divine will, having 
more motives to love and serve God, having a more abun- 
dant effusion of the Holy Spirit, than under any preceding 
period, we may be sure that their character will be supe- 
rior, their delight in the worship of God more warm, their 
celebration of God's praises in creation and redemption 
proportionably more fervent. Yet, if a sabbatical ^institu- 
tion is not binding upon Christians, we must reverse the 
supposition. We must forget the devotion of the patri- 
archs, the spiritual fervor of the psalmist, the zeal for the 
Sabbath which animated Nehemiah and Ezra, the delight 
in its duties foretold by Isaiah as marking the gospel age; 
and the Christian must take his station below the Jew in 
spirituality and love. But this can never be the case. We 
may conclude that if one day in seven was the measure 
under more imperfect dispensations, a less term cannot suf- 
fice under the influence of so many motives and induce- 
ments to a higher degree of love in the worship of God.* 
We shall want, therefore, no enactment, no express com- 
mand in the New Testament. Things will go on as they 
did before the Mosaic economy, except as a richer effusion 
of grace will render the Sabbath a more delightful season 
of repose than in the preceding ages. The worship of the 
New Testament will be, we may conclude, a restoration of 
the patriarchal in its primitive simplicity and purity, dropping 
the incumbrances imposed during the time of the law, and 
acquiring all the new influence and obligations which the 
infinite benefits of the gospel confer. 

* Archdeacon Pott. 



LAW OF MOSES. 8J 

And thus, as the patriarchal sacrifices passed on into 
the passover and numerous offerings of the law during the 
term of that intervening dispensation, and then emerged 
in the simple evangelical supper of our Lord — as the patri- 
archal circumcision reserved its rites during the same econ- 
omy, and then yielded to the sacrament of baptism — as the 
patriarchal institution of marriage, suspended on account of 
the hardness of the people's hearts during the Jewish age, 
was re-established and came to its full effect in the Chris- 
tian law of marriage, — so the patriarchal day of rest, with 
its worship of God, its celebration of the wonders of cre- 
ation, and its provision for the religious repose of man, 
after having been annexed for a period to the national cov- 
enant of the Jews, was restored to its first design in the 
Christian Sabbath. 

A re-enactment in the New Testament would be a de- 
nial, by implication, of its previous institution and author- 
ity. Nothing is re-enacted in the gospel. The moral 
law, the essential duties of religion, the relations of man 
to his Maker and Benefactor, the necessity of a season for 
divine worship, the proportion of time destined for it from 
the creation, all the precepts of the decalogue — remain un- 
changed. They are not again formally promulgated, 
Creation and Mount Sinai suffice. They go on of course, 
and the Sabbath with them, if no express and formal abro- 
gation of it be found in the gospel. 

But we are anticipating our next discourse. Our object 
is merely to bring up the sabbatical rest to the threshhold 
of the New Testament, and to leave it there, ready to 
enter. 

Let us then turn from these discussions to some practical 
points which may affect our hearts. 

1. Let us learn to give to the holy day of rest that 
prominency in our esteem which Moses was instructed 
to give it in his dispensation. Christian brethren, let the 
gospel be as influential upon us to observe the day of rest 
and holy worship, as the law was of old. Let not the 
Sabbath be sunk amidst external observances, ordinary 
rites, an outward adherence to a national creed, the com- 
mon decencies of religion. Let it be exalted and placed 
aloft as the Queen of days. Let the admiration of the 
Jew, blind as it often was, be a stimulus to the more en- 



82 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

lightened devotion of the Christian. Let the mercies of 
God in the redemption from the Egyptian captivity, which 
bound with additional motives the Sabbath upon the ancient 
people, teach us how the mercies of a spiritual redemption 
from sin and death should bind on us the sanctification of 
that day when they are especially celebrated. Let the 
perpetual inculcation of this duty by Moses, on all occa- 
sions, in every connection, by every species of motive, lead 
us to urge it upon our children and households on every fit 
opportunity. Let the solemn promulgation of it in "The 
Ten Commandments" be the rallying point of all our ar- 
guments, and the brief and conclusive evidence of the per- 
petuity of the institution. 

II. And to this end let us imbibe the spirit of 
love and delight in the worship of God, which the 
Psalms and Prophets display. We never can imitate the 
earnestness of Moses, nor place the Sabbath on the prom- 
inency where he exhibits it, unless we join to it the holy 
David's love to God, and the sublime Isaiah's spiritual joy 
in his service. O, how much are our Sabbaths, practically 
speaking, below those of the saints of old. How much is 
our repose of soul in God, our fainting of heart after his 
courts, our view of the happiness which religion communi- 
cates, inferior to the feelings which these holy men expe- 
rienced! Let us pray, let us seek for such a spiritual state 
of heart, for such a real choice and preference of God in 
Christ Jesus, and such a delight in the contemplation of his 
glory in creation, providence, and redemption, as may en- 
large our hearts and "lift them up in the ways of the 
Lord;" as may render the Sabbath a delight, as may 
surround it with the honor and esteem which are its due, 
and make "one day in God's courts better than a thou- 
sand." Then, then should we indeed sanctify our Sab- 
baths. Then would disputes soon cease. Then should we 
abstain naturally and with choice, from "doing our own 
ways, finding our own pleasure, or speaking our own 
words." And what, indeed, does the love of our Savior 
Christ, and the grace of the Holy Spirit do for us, if they 
do not raise us out of the world, and unite us with the spir- 
itual church in religious adoration? This is the secret 
of true religion. It reigns by love, it subdues by the sense 
of benefits, it calms and purifies the soul, it turns the cur- 



LAW OF MOSES. 83 

rent of the affections towards God, it pays cheerfully and 
with delight the tribute of one day in seven, as the Lord's 
portion and share out of man's time and efforts, and for the 
training and discipline of the soul for an eternity of worship 
in heaven. 

III. But add to these motives the awful indigna- 
tion of Almighty God against the contempt of his name 
and his day. Judge from the terrors of Mount Sinai and 
the denunciations of the prophets against the sin of pol- 
luting the Sabbath, what is the esteem in which the Lord 
holds it. I would urge upon my own conscience, and that of 
others, the guilt of that weariness in the service of God, 
that contempt and neglect of its spiritual benefits, that in- 
ward disgust and pride which harden the heart against 
penitence and a return to God, that conceit and self-reli- 
ance and self-satisfaction which engender dislike for divine 
worship and religious repose. I would urge the criminality, 
the peculiar criminality, under the spiritual dispensation of 
the New Testament, of those sins which Moses and the 
prophets condemned with so much vehemence under the less 
perfect economy of the law. The greater ease and liberty of 
the gospel and our freedom from the bond of ceremonies, only 
augment the guilt of that enmity against the holy nature and 
blessed will of God, from which contempt of his worship 
springs. We have now no multiplied festivals to observe, 
no difficult and expensive offerings to present, no perpetual 
oblations to go through with, no sabbatical years to ob- 
serve. The simple and noble worship and repose of one 
day in seven is what God commands — or rather grants 
us as a boon — and only enjoins when we refuse thus to re- 
ceive it. 

Awaken, then, Christian brethren, from the torpor and 
lukewarmness which too much mark the age in which we 
live. A philosophic conceit, the pride of intellect, indiffer- 
ence to truth, a selfish calculating love of ease and indul- 
gence, a blindness to the magnitude and dignity of the claims 
of our invisible Benefactor — these are our sins — and these 
were the sins of the days of Ezekiel and Malachi under 
the old dispensation. And from these sins, a readiness to 
listen to objections against the Sabbath springs. Who 
would ever have endured the fiction of an anticipation in 



84 THE SABBATH UNDER THE 

the narrative of the glorious work of creation,* or of the 
Sabbath being merely a ceremonial rite, if an indifference 
and weariness for spiritual things had not predisposed the 
mind to seek any excuse for its worldliness and unconcern. 
But let us be aroused to real penitence. Let us view the 
guilt of contemning God in its true light. Let our hard- 
ness of heart, and pride of intellectual distinction, yield to 
the sweet influences of grace, and we shall honor God in 
the day which from the creation has been dedicated to 
him. The anomaly of a Christian loving God and under- 
valuing the day of God, has never yet been known. But 
further, 

IV. Let us imitate the heroic zeal of Ezra and 
Nehemiah in vindicating the sanctity of the Sabbath. 
Surely the Christian cannot hesitate as to his duty, after 
considering the conduct of these inspired men. Each 
should do what his talent and influence in society enjoin 
and permit. It is the principle upon which I insist. If 
we cannot absolutely shut the gates of our great cities 
to the entrance of merchandize, we may do something to 
lessen the evil. We may shut the door of our houses 
— we may prohibit the purchase or reception of articles 
of consumption by our servants and dependants — we may 
encourage those upon whom we have any influence, to 
observe the sacred day. Let only the zeal, the cour- 
age, the firmness, the disinterestedness of Ezra and Nehe- 
miah be connected with their piety and love to the house 
of their God, and much would be done. How have national 
revivals of religion been brought about in other times? 
In the days of Samuel, in those of Hezekiah or Jehosha- 
phat or Josiah? The magistrates and ministers of religion 
took the lead. Men like Ezra and Nehemiah rose up 
with holy determination and simplicity. Public conscience 
and sentiment were addressed. Gross infractions of the 
day of rest were discouraged. Prayer was offered up 
at the throne of mercy. God answered the petition, and 
truth and holiness were again established. 

V. I add only one more thought; that as the guilt of 
Sabbath-breaking and of idolatry were united of old in the 

* No man ever thought of anticipation in this place, who was not first 
anticipated with manifest prejudice, says an old writer. 



LAW OF MOSES. 85 

practice of the people, and in the threatnings of the holy 
prophets, we should especially dread that false view of 

THE CHARACTER OF GOD AND OF THE NATURE OF 

Christianity which are generally associated with the 
violation of the Lord's day. To worship God aright, is 
to adore him in his perfections, in his manifestations of him- 
self in his word, in his infinite right over man, in his holy 
law, in his eternal judgment, in the revelation of a way of 
salvation through the atonement of Christ and in the ope- 
rations of the divine Spirit, in the communion with himself 
to which he admits the devout worshipper. All other wor- 
ship is idolatry in its proper sense. It is the setting up 
idols in our heart. It is worshipping a God of our own 
imagination. Now mark the alliance of all this with the 
sin of neglecting and violating the holy Sabbath. We throw 
off the day of religion, because we throw off the God whom 
that religion regards. We set up the god of the infidel, or 
of the Socinian, or the careless worldly professor, which is 
such an one as himself; and then we worship that idol, by 
vanity, by carnal indulgence, by the neglect of all the spir- 
itual duties of the Christian Sabbath. Let the God of the 
Bible be enthroned in the heart, and the Sabbath which 
that God blessed and sanctified, will be duly honored. To 
love him, to glorify him, to worship him, to meditate on his 
works, to prepare for the enjoyment of him for ever, will 
fully occupy that sacred portion of time which he has ap- 
pointed for those ends. Faith in the object of worship will 
produce the sanctification of the day of worship. And thus 
shall we join the instructions of the Old Testament 
on the subject of the Sabbath, with the grace and 
strength furnished in the New, and have the patriarchal 
and Christian day of rest united and fulfilled in all their 
blessings. 



SEEMOI III. 



THE SABBATH VINDICATED UNDER THE GOSPEL FROM 
PHARISAICAL AUSTERITIES, AND SET FORTH IN MORE 
THAN ITS ORIGINAL DIGNITY AND GLORY. 



Mark ii. 27, 28. 

And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, 
and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man 
is Lord also of the Sabbath. 

We now come to a most important part of the argument 
for the divine authority and perpetual obligation of a day of 
weekly rest. There has hitherto appeared but little of real 
weight, or even of plausibility, in the objections raised by 
our opponents. The fiction of an anticipated history is so 
groundless, and the attempt to evade the authority of the 
fourth commandment so violent, that we may almost wonder 
that any professed believer in Christianity should have ad- 
vanced them. But the case is different, as it respects the 
gospel dispensation: our Lord undoubtedly introduced ma- 
terial changes in the observation of the Sabbath as prev- 
alent at the time of his ministry. Undoubtedly he relieved 
it from many restrictions. On what authority, indeed, 
these restrictions had been introduced, is another question 
— but undoubtedly he relieved it. The apostles followed, 
and transferred the time of its celebration, from the last 
to the first day of the week; and abrogated finally the 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 87 

ceremonies and rites of the Jewish law. All this is con- 
sidered by many as a repeal of the institution altogether — 
they view the Christian Sabbath as a new command resting 
on its own basis — and that basis the mere example of the 
apostles. 

Let us then calmly consider this part of the subject. 
The authority of our Redeemer, as "Lord of the Sabbath," 
to abrogate or dissolve any divine ordinance, is acknowl- 
edged on all hands. 

Here it will be convenient to divide the question into two 
parts — the divine authority of the Sabbath itself under the 
Christian dispensation — and The ground on which the day 
of its observation was changed. In other words, we must 
answer two questions: Have we a Sabbath under the gos- 
pel? and, Is that Sabbath the Lord's day? The first will 
occupy the present discourse. 

Now if the statements we have made in our preceding 
arguments be at all valid, this question will almost answer 
itself. For we left the Sabbath on the margin of the Old 
Testament, ready to step over into the Evangelical dispen- 
sation. We had brought up the proof of its continued ob- 
ligation from its first enactment in paradise, to the very line 
of separation. The glories of the six days' work, succeeded 
by a seventh day's repose, as inscribed on the order of crea- 
tion — the insertion of the law of the Sabbath into the ten 
commandments — its distinct and lofty position above the cer- 
emonies of Moses in the very midst of that economy — its in- 
culcation by the prophets as of essential moral force, and 
as about to form a part of the Messiah's kingdom; — all this 
implies that Christ's religion would not be deprived of its 
day of rest — that the most perfect dispensation would not 
be inferior in privilege to the less perfect — that where all 
is grace, and light, and universality, we should not be al- 
lowed a smaller portion of time for the immediate honor of 
our God, and communion with him, than where bondage and 
fear prevailed. 

And this we shall accordingly find to be the case. We 
shall see the ten commandments, and the Sabbath amongst the 
number, recognized by our Lord and his apostles — we shall 
observe our Savior honoring it on all occasions by his prac- 
tice, and vindicating it from unauthorized traditions injurious 
to its real design. We shall find that nothing with respect 



88 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

to it is abrogated under the gospel, but those temporary 
ceremonies and statutes which constituted the peculiarities 
of the Jewish age. We shall perceive that the especial 
promise of the New Testament has for its object to render 
its duties more practicable and delightful^ and thus increase 
tenfold their obligation. 

That is, we shall discover that the solemn axiom deliv- 
ered by our Lord in the text, together with the caution and 
inference connected with it, lays down the true principle on 
which the Christian day of rest is to be enforced. 

The Sabbath was made for man; was originally 
granted him as a boon—was appointed for his necessary 
repose from worldly toil and care — was made, not for the 
Jew merely, but for man as man; for man as consisting of 
body and soul; as requiring rest and refreshment for the 
one, religious instruction for the other; as created for his 
Maker's glory, and destined for eternal happiness or 
misery. 

What a noble declaration of the perpetual design and 
authority of the institution! Of all our Savior's axioms, 
few are more clear, definite, important, universal. It takes 
for granted that there would be a Sabbath under his dis- 
pensation; and it defines its purposes, that it was made for 
the advantage and benefit of man — for his highest wel- 
fare both as to his body and soul. 

Nor is the caution which our Lord adds less appropriate 
considering the austerities which the Jewish masters had 
imposed; not man for the sabbath. Their error lay 
in overlooking the grand moral end of the institution. They 
taught that "man was made for the Sabbath." Our Lord 
recals the institution to its first and true design; he teaches 
that it was not a rite ending in itself, and to which all the 
moral purposes of it should yield; but that God would "have 
mercy and not sacrifice," and that when the real spiritual 
and exalted interests of man, for which it was appointed, 
required a suspension of any of its outward observances, 
that suspension was lawful. 

The axiom and caution explain all our Lord's conduct. 
The fundamental law of the Sabbath remains unchanged; 
as it began, so it will end only with the world itself. But 
the embarrassments and trammels of human fancy are dis- 
solved, and its simplicity is restored. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 



89 



The inference follows of course; therefore the Son 
of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. For the in- 
stitution having originally been made for the good of man; 
and "the Lord of the Sabbath" having become, by his in- 
carnation "the Son of man," for redeeming him from death, 
for introducing the last dispensation, and ordering all things 
in that dispensation for his best welfare — "therefore the 
Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath," to expound as 
legislator its injunctions, to annul with authority the impo- 
sitions introduced contrary to its genuine spirit, to leave it 
as one of the distinctions and privileges of his universal and 
spiritual kingdom. 

Proceed we, then, to consider the divine obligation of 
the weekly day of rest under the gospel, as apparent from 

I. The recognition of the ten commandments, 

AND OF THE FOURTH AMONGST THE NUMBER, which Our 

Lord and his apostles make. 

It will be recollected, that the moral law had for fifteen 
centuries been known as a distinct code, under the titles of 
"The Tables of the Law," "The Commandments," "The 
Law," and similar appropriate names, which, as we have 
already remarked, meant the same, with reference to other 
commands, as "The Bible" with regard to other books. 
It need scarcely be noticed, also, that "The Command- 
ments" were divided into two parts, the first containing 
four precepts and no more, the second six; the whole being 
ten; and that the first series was summed up in the well- 
known command of the love of God, and the second of the 
love of our neighbor. 

Now if our Lord and his apostles recognize the perpet- 
ual authority of the whole moral law as a matter of course; 
if they refer to it as known by the collective name or 
names which we have noticed; if they divide it into the 
two great commanding precepts of the love of God and 
man; if they refer to some of them in a manner which 
proves that the order of the ten commands was the same 
as when promulgated from Mount Sinai; if they declare 
that the gospel abrogated none of the precepts, but enlarged 
their scope and enforced their authority; and if, finally, 
they denounced their displeasure against those who should 
teach any relaxation of the least of these enactments; — then 
8* 



90 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

the whole ten commandments, the fourth included, are of 
plenary force under the gospel. 

And need I remind you that when one came to Christ 
and said, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may in- 
herit eternal life?" our Lord at once replied, as a matter 
perfectly familiar, "Thou knowest the commandments" 
— if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," 
— and when the inquirer demanded which, Jesus recapit- 
ulated five; thus expressly recognizing the whole code?* 
Need I tell you, that on another occasion, he summed up 
the two tables, as Moses so frequently had done in the 
Pentateuch, into the love of God and the love of our neigh- 
bor, adding, as if to strengthen his recognition of them — 
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets?"| 

Need I tell you that at another time he reproached the 
Pharisees with having "made void" one commandment, the 
fifth, "through their tradition?" Need I remind you, above 
all, that he declared in one of his most solemn discourses 
— that on the Mount — that "he came not to destroy the 
law and the prophets, but to fulfil" — that "till heaven and 
earth should pass, one jot or one tittle should in no wise 
pass from the law till all be fulfilled" — that "whosoever 
should break one of the least of these commandments and 
should teach men so, should be called least in the kingdom 
of heaven" — and that "unless the righteousness of his dis- 
ciples should exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and 
Pharisees, they should in no case enter into the kingdom of 
heaven?" Can anything be more express upon our ar- 
gument than such declarations; especially as our Savior 
leaves us in no doubt of what he meant by the law, but 
proceeds to explain several of the ten commandments ?J 

And why should I detain you with going over the same 
ground as to the apostles? Do they not every where ac- 
knowledge without addition or diminution, the same deca- 
logue? Does not St. Paul say, "He that loveth another, 
hath fulfilled the law?" and then, after enumerating five 
commands, does he not add, "And if there be any other 

* Matt. xix. 16. Mark x. 17. Luke xviii. 18. 
+ Deut. vi. 5. Lev. xix. 19. Matt. xxii. 36—40. 
t Matt. v. vi. vii. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 91 

commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, 
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself?"* And though 
he quote not separately, any more than our Lord, the par- 
ticular precepts of the first table, yet can any one suppose, 
that when he sums up the second table, as we have seen, 
in the love of our neighbor, he meant to exclude the first 
table or any precept of it, any more than our Lord meant to 
exclude it, who actually quotes the Mosaic summary of that 
first table? But I need not dwell on so clear a point. I 
need not enumerate the passages where St. Paul and his 
brother apostles cite or refer to the moral law, as of divine 
and perpetual authority under the gospel. What indeed 
is sin "but the transgression of the law?"| What is the 
Christian's whole state of duty, but "the being under the 
law to Christ?"! And how would the apostle have 
"known sin, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet ?"§ 
I add, therefore only, that St. Paul, when writing to the 
Ephesians, a Gentile church, assumes their acquaintance 
with the very order of the precepts of the decalogue, as 
well as their authority, when he states concerning filial 
obedience, that it is "the first commandment with promise:" 
— thus recognizing the usual arrangement of the decalogue, 
and proving that no commandment had been changed or dis- 
possessed of its place. 

Now this carries the whole question. If Christ and his 
apostles came not to relax, or abrogate, or destroy the 
moral law, but to vindicate, explain, and enforce it, then 
the ten commandments in every one of their number — and 
the fourth equally with the rest — is established and recog- 
nized — the law of the Sabbath is as authoritative as 
the law against theft, murder, or adultery. The code is 
one entire, inseparable body of moral precepts. "Whoso- 
ever," says St. James, in language which implies all we 
are contending for, "shall keep the whole law, and yet 
offend in one point, he is guilty of all; for he that said, Do 
not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou 
commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a 
transgressor of the law. "II 



Rom. xiii. 8. f 1 John iii. 4. 

1 Cor. ix. 21. § Rom. vii. 7. 

James ii. 10 ; 11. 



92 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

After the argument of the preceding discourses, it seems 
only trifling that our Lord has not expressly quoted the 
fourth commandment. The mere silence of Scripture will 
not surely be again alleged. And we are to remember that 
several other of the precepts of the decalogue are equally 
omitted- — and that as the fault of the Jews with regard to 
the Sabbath, was not in defect, but excess — as they con- 
sidered the fourth commandment as surpassing every other 
in dignity—as they boasted of a most minute and punctil- 
ious observance of it — and loaded it with innumerable tra- 
ditions; our Lord had only to restore it to its original sim- 
plicity, and set it forth by his doctrine and example in its 
native loveliness. And this is precisely what he did. The 
neglect into which the original law had fallen before the 
Musaical dispensation, was supplied by exactly what was 
then required, an express promulgation — a strong, direct, 
detailed command inserted amongst the other moral pre- 
cepts. The excess which had been generated by the su- 
perstition and formality of the Jews before the gospel econ- 
omy, was corrected by exactly what was required, the 
gracious conduct of our Lord. For, 

II. He HONORED THE SABBATH ON ALL OCCASIONS, 
AND NEVER VIOLATED ITS SANCTITY, according to the 

true import of the moral and ceremonial enactments of 
Moses; but merely brought it back to its genuine spirit 
and design, from the uncommanded austerities of the Jew- 
ish doctors — a conduct which the apostles also perfectly 
understood and imitated in their own practice. 

On eleven occasions is our Lord's doctrine and spirit 
with regard 'to the Sabbath recorded. These are distri- 
buted over his ministry. Between the first and second pass- 
over we have three: the sermon at Nazareth;* his teach- 
ing at Capernaum,")" and his healing Peter's wife's mother. J 
We have four between the second and third passover: the 
miracle at the pool of Bethesda;§ the plucking the ears of 
corn;|j his restoring the withered hand;TT and his second 
teaching at Nazareth. ** The remaining occasions occur 
between the third and fourth passover — the last of his. 
ministry: his defence of the miracle at the pool of Beth- 

* Luke iv. 16—22. f Luke iv. 31—37. $ Luke iv. 33-41. 

<> John v. 5. ad Jin. (j Luke vi. 1—5. V Matt. xii. 9— 21. 

** Mark vi. 1—6. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 93 

esda;* his healing of the man blind from his birth ;| of 
the woman eighteen years infirmj — and the man afflicted 
with the dropsy. § 

Now, if on calmly examining all these narratives, we 
should find that our Lord always honored and kept the Sab- 
bath; that he performed miracles of healing upon it, only 
as occasions arose, and in order to confirm his doctrine, 
and ensure faith in his messiahship; that these acts were 
never in violation, but entirely in accordance with the Mo- 
saic law; that they were especially designed to relieve the 
institution from the oppressive traditions of the Scribes and 
Pharisees; that no objections were taken against them at 
first, and afterwards only as pretences to cover their malig- 
nity and hatred to his divine mission; that our Lord's de- 
fences of himself and his disciples proceeded on what was 
the real import of the fourth commandment, though misun- 
derstood; and assumed that the Sabbath itself was of per- 
petual obligation; and if all this be confirmed by our Lord's 
caution concerning the flight of his disciples at the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, and by the conduct and doctrines of his- 
inspired apostles at the first promulgation of the gospel — 
then it will be admitted that our Savior, so far from relax- 
ing the fourth commandment, or abrogating the essential 
law of the Sabbath, vindicated it, established it, and left it 
in more than its original authority. 

We begin with the three incidents occurring before the 
second passover. On the very first of these Ave are told 
that our Lord "went, as his custom was, into the syna- 
gogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. 
This marks a habit — a habit acted upon in his own city, 
"where he had been brought up." The divine discourse 
cited from the prophet Isaiah followed; and thus the highest 
honor is put upon his Father's institution. Capernaum is 
the next scene presented to us. "He taught the people on 
the Sabbath-days," is the record; betokening again a cus- 
tom, a course of instruction. But a demoniac is present, 
and cries out to the disturbance of the worshippers; the 
devil is rebuked with a w r ord, quits the possessed sufferer, 
bears unwilling testimony to our Savior's messiahship, and 

* John vii. 21, ad Jin. t John ix. 1 ad Jin. 

X Luke xiii. 10—17. § Luke xiv. 1—6. 



n 



94 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

diffuses his fame; so that the evangelist notes the fulfilment 
of the prophecy: "The people which sat in darkness saw a 
great light. "* No idea of a breach of the fourth com- 
mandment enters a single mind, no clamor is raised, no 
accusation is brought against him. The Sabbath is exalted 
by our Lord's conduct on it. On the same evening, retir- 
ing from the synagogue and entering Simon's house, he 
heals his wife's mother of a fever; and afterwards, when 
the sun was set and the Sabbath past,f multitudes of sick 
were brought to him, and were healed— for on no occasion 
were crowds collected even for this beneficent exertion of 
power, on the Sabbath: the miracles are separate acts, 
occurring incidentally, and forming a part of our Lord's 
doctrine and instructions as Messiah. 

Between the second and third passover, similar deeds of 
mercy occur, and are now seized on by the Pharisees and 
Scribes as pretences for displaying that hatred to his person 
and mission which his miracles and doctrines had by this 
time inflamed. 

At the pool of Bethesda, the impotent man, after laying 
"thirty and eight years in that case," is healed; and is 
commanded, in testimony to the truth of the cure, or rather 
as a part of the miraculous act, to carry away with him 
the miserable rug or covering on which he lay, — which it 
was customary for the poor to take with them from place 
to place, and which, if left behind at the pool, would have 
been lost, though probably his only possession. J 

His disciples passing through the corn-fields, (most likely 
to or from the synagogue,) and having nothing with them 

* Matt. iv. 14 — 16, for it was on that occasion. 

t The Jewish Sabbath ended at sunset. 

I The beds of the poor in the Holy Land were often mattresses, rugs, 
and covering's, used during the day for raiment — "If thou take at all thy 
neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it to him by that the sun 
goeth down; for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: 
wherein shall he sleep." — Exod. xxii. 26, 27. Similar customs prevail 
in hot countries now. "Mattresses, or something of that kind, are used 
(in Palestine) for sleeping upon." They are rolled up, carried away, 
and placed in cupboards till they are wanted at night." "In many parts, 
of Spain the country people sleep upon mats or rushes or straw, which 
they roll up in the morning and take with them. 77 — L rmev and Rocca in 
Burder. 

Accordingly our Lord said to the paralytic, almost as a matter of 
course, if his cure were wrought, and as a part of that cure, "Arise ; .ake 
up thy bed and walk. 77 — Matt. ix. 6. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 95 

to eat, and no opportunity of procuring victuals, pluck the 
ears of corn to satisfy the pressure of instant hunger. The 
man with the withered hand is restored, our Lord knowing 
the secret thoughts of the Pharisees who were watching 
him, and asking them, before he performed the cure, whether 

it was "lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil 

to save life or to destroy it." Their silence is the plainest 
admission that it was permitted to heal on the Sabbath- 
day. Lastly, his second instructions at Nazareth are re- 
corded, no instance of healing occurring; and the offence 
arising from his mission and character, breaking out not- 
withstanding. 

Now in this second series of cases, can any one really 
maintain that there was any violation of the Sabbath, moral 
or ceremonial, by such conduct and doctrine in such a per- 
son as our Lord — a messenger from heaven, one who was 
executing the office of Messiah, one who sustained his di- 
vine message by these divine acts? Were they not, on 
the contrary, in the highest degree calculated to honor and 
distinguish the day of religious worship, did they not tend 
to the immediate glory of his heavenly Father, and pro- 
mote all the highest ends of the Sabbath? Were not the 
attendant multitudes thus enabled to witness his mighty 
deeds; and did not even the false accusations of the Phar- 
isees lead to a more close examination of the truth of the 
miracles performed? 

But to reap and gather in corn is a breach of the rest 
of the Sabbath! — but to bear and carry burdens is a breach 
of the ceremonial law! Yes; and of the moral also. But 
the plucking a few ears of corn, when passing through a 
field and pressed with hunger, is not reaping — and to carry 
to one's house a mat-bed as a part of a miraculous cure, 
from a pool, where if left it would instantly have been lost 
to its possessor, is not bearing burdens. Between the 
reaper gathering in his field, and the disciples' conduct, 
there was as great a difference as between "the men of 
Tyre bringing fish and all manner of ware to Jerusalem,"* 
and the impotent man bearing off his bed to his house, in 
proof c^-a miraculous restoration to health. 

We pass to che third series of our Lord's conduct and 
works on the Sabbath — those immediately preceding his 

* Neh. xiii. 16. 



96 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

passion. On the first of these occasions he vindicates the 
cure of the impotent man which had been wrought a year, 
or a year and a half, previously, at the pool. The restor- 
ation of the man blind from his birth, whom he met as he 
was passing by, forms the second. The next is the loosing 
from her infirmity the woman who had been bowed together 
for eighteen years by Satan, and who, though she in no wise 
could lift up herself, had jet come to the worship of the 
synagogue. The last was the cure of the man that had 
the dropsy, who was present in the house where our Savior 
was eating bread — the Pharisees watching him — and Jesus 
pausing to ask them, before he relieved the sufferer, "If it 
was lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day?" Upon which, 
"holding their peace," as they must needs do, as they 
knew that it was no violation of their law, he "took him, 
and healed him, and let him go." # 

Such are the separate narratives, which sufficiently vin- 
dicate themselves, considering the mission which our Lord 
was fulfilling, and the habitual observation of the worship 
and law of the Sabbath which he maintained. 

But, mark the general grounds on which he de- 
fends his conduct, and that of his disciples, in the second 
series of his works,f for the first excited nothing but ad- 
miration. Mark how he appeals to their own law, their 
own usages, as recorded in the sacred books — the example 
of David, the example of the priests preparing the sacri- 
fices — the divine decision, "I will have mercy and not sac- 
rifice;" concluding the defence with the words which form 
the text of this discourse — "The Sabbath was made for" 
the highest good of "man;" "'not for" the good of "the 
Sabbath — therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the 
Sabbath," to explain its true ritual, and bring it back to 
its true design. 



* Luke xiv. 1 — 6. 

f "Have ye not re^d what David did when he was an hungered, and 
they that were with him, how he entered into the house of God, and did 
eat the shew-bread, which it was not lawful to eat, neither to them that 
were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the 
law how that on the Sabbath-days the priests in the temple profane the 
Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you in this place is one 
greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will 
have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the 

GUILTLESS/' 7 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 97 

Notice also another ground of our Lord's vindication, 
the common necessities of our nature, which no law of God 
can be supposed to prohibit: "Thou hypocrite, doth not 
each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from 
the stall, and lead him away to watering?"* — "What man 
shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and 
if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath-day, will he not lay hold 
on it and lift it out? How much then is a man better than 
a sheep ?f Such language proves that it was the false and 
hypocritical interpretations of the Pharisees which our Lord 
meant to oppose. And, indeed, the effect of his remon- 
strances was so pointed, that on one occasion we are told, 
"his adversaries were ashamed, and could not answer him 
again to these things; whilst all the people rejoiced and 
glorified God."J 

That these actions and cures on the Sabbath were con- 
trary to THE NOTIONS AND FALSE GLOSSES OF THE 

Jewish doctors, I admit. The hatred of the people, 
and especially their rulers, to our Savior's character and 
mission, was the real cause; but the uncommanded tradi- 
tions of the Pharisees afforded them a pretext. And when 
we consider the extent to which this vexatious and hypo- 
critical system had been carried, and the immense impor- 
tance to an universal and benignant religion like Chris- 
tianity, to have one of its chief glories, the day of rest, 
placed on its true footing, we cannot wonder at the course 
which our Savior pursued. The law of the Sabbath had 
been loaded by the masters with unreasonable and minute 
observances. "You will see in their oral law," says Dr. 
Wotton, "an incredible minuteness in things seemingly the 
most trivial; but all subservient to one main end, which 
was to teach men how to evade the law, when they seemed 
most solicitous to observe it."§ Take as an example the 
absurd reason assigned for the institution itself by Philo 
the Jew: "Now, why God chose the seventh day, and 
established it by law for the day of rest, you need not ask 
at all of me, since both physicians and philosophers have 
so often declared, of what great power and virtue that 
number is, as in all other things, so specially on the nature 

* Luke xiii. 15. t Matt. xii. 11, 12. 

t Luke xiii. 17; xiv. 6. § Wotton's Mishna. 



98 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

and state of man. And thus you have the reason of the 
seventh-day-Sabbath."* 

Now the exact points which our Lord determined to fall 
within the Mosaical law, are those which the Jewish law- 
yers had prohibited. They excused themselves, for instance, 
from offices of piety and charity to their neighbor, though 
they allowed the law its fair import when their own ox or 
ass was to be fed or rescued from danger — that is, they 
took advantage of the Sabbath to veil their own selfish- 
ness. They held, again, that no ointment should be ap- 
plied to a wound, and that in chronical diseases the per- 
sons afflicted should endure them a day longer, rather than 
attempt a cure on the Sabbath: but they allowed circum- 
cision to be performed on the same day. Do we wonder, 
then, that our blessed Lord healed on the Sabbath-day — do 
we wonder that he selected chronical complaints as the ob- 
ject of his compassion — do we wonder that he bid the impo- 
tent man to take home his humble bed — do we wonder that 
he made clay and anointed the eyes of the blind? These 
actions were designed to sweep away the rubbish of human 
tradition, which perverted the true design, and encumbered 
the real duties of the Sabbath. 

In all this our Lord made no alteration in the 
mosaic law, he relaxed no part of the divine command- 
ment, he repealed no particle of the ceremonial usages, 
(this belonged to the apostolic day,) it was not the Chris- 
tian but the Jewish Sabbath which he vindicated, and 
brought back to its original design by showing that works 
of necessity and charity were entirely consistent with the 
letter as well as spirit of the fourth commandment, as well 
as with the ceremonial and judicial statutes of Moses. 

Indeed all our Lord's reasonings suppose the 
continuance of the day of rest in its essential 
moral obligation upon man. The idea of a worship- 
per of God without a Sabbath never entered the mind of 
Jew or Christian in any age — much less in that of our 
Savior. Why regulate, why amend, why modify the false 
usages, if all was about to be abrogated? Why contend 
so warmly against the inventions of the traditionary mas- 
ters? Why lay down distinctions between what is lawful 

* Heylin in Eel. Rev. 1830. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 99 

and what is unlawful to be done?* Why determine that 
works of mercy and charity are allowable, thus implicitly 
prohibiting* all other works? Why not silence the Phari- 
sees by declaring that the Sabbath was a merely tempo- 
rary observance, about to vanish before the permanent law 
of the gospel? When our Lord, therefore, instead of all 
this, defends himself and his disciples by a mode of argu- 
ment in which the permanence of the Sabbath is assumed, 
we conclude that he meant to teach that the moral obliga- 
tion of it remained, and would remain under the gospel age. 

It is thus he explained and vindicated other com- 
mands, taking for granted the validity of the commands 
themselves, and adding his authoritative expositions. Who 
ever thought that his extension and new application of sev- 
eral precepts of the moral law, in the sermon on the Mount, 
was intended to weaken the force of the original com- 
mands? Who ever imagined that when the traditions con- 
cerning the fifth precept were exposed, and the pretence of 
Corban swept away, that one iota of the law itself was 
removed? 

And all this receives confirmation from our Lord's sup- 
posing the continuance of the Sabbath at a period 
when all real obligation to a Jewish institution would long: 
have ceased. In foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, 
and directing the flight of his disciples (not the Jews gen- 
erally — but his disciples — Christians — and this in a private 
and confidential conference, and applying to a calamity 
nearly forty years distant, when the ceremonial and civil 
law of the Jews would long have been publicly abrogated 
by the mission of his apostles) he bids them to pray, "that 
their flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath- 
day;" as these two impediments, the one from the nature 
of the season, the other from the obligation of the fourth 
commandment, would obstruct their escape. The observa- 
tion cannot be expounded of any superstitious fears of vio- 
lating* a ceremonial or Mosaical precept, or even the tra- 
dition of the elders; because flight under imminent peril 
was allowed. The argument, therefore, seems of mighty 
force. 



* Mark the expression, "Wherefore it is lawful to do well (to heal 
the sick and similar acts) on the Sabbath-day."— Matt. xii. 12, 



100 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

But how did the inspired apostles understand their 
Master's doctrine? What was their conduct immediately 
upon the descent of the Spirit, and in the interval between 
the abrogation of the ceremonial law and the change, of 
the day of rest, from the seventh to the first of the week ? 
Did they, or did they not, honor the Sabbath? A very 
few words will suffice on this point: because no one ventures 
to deny that their devout observation of the Jewish rest 
extended even beyond the time when the Christian (as we 
shall prove in our next discourse) superseded it. They 
were so far from neglecting the Sabbath, that they kept 
for a period, in order to conciliate the Jews, both the Mo- 
saical and Christian. I speak not of the holy women who, 
embued with their Lord's doctrine, and guided by his con- 
duct, hesitated not a moment to "rest the Sabbath-day 
according to the commandment;"* eager as they 
were to provide spices and ointments for his body. I dwell 
not upon the notice of the sacred day, which occurs nat- 
urally and without effort, in the Acts of the Apostles, even 
where the Jews are not concerned: "and the Gentiles be- 
sought that these words might be preached unto them the 
next Sabbath. And the next sabbath almost the whole 
city came together to hear the word of God."f Nor will 
I do more than refer to the apostle's habit, copied from 
that of his divine Lord, of sanctifying this most ancient of 
institutions: "and Paul, as his manner was, went in 
unto them, and three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out 
of the Scriptures. And he reasoned in the synagogue 
every Sabbath." 

So contrary to the truth of the case is it, to suppose 
that our Lord and his apostles abrogated the law of the 
Sabbath — they did not even relax it. It wanted no 
relaxation. Like every other, the fourth commandment 
was "holy, just, and good." It contained in itself all that 
principle of suspension in cases of real necessity, which 
the mercy of the Almighty from the first intended, and 
which the tenor or the precept was meant to include. Not 
even the ceremonial and temporary appendages of the Mo- 
saical economy were violated by our Lord. All his con- 
duct exalted and honored the day of his heavenly Father, 

* Luke xxiii. 56, f Acts xiii ? 42 — 45. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 101 

and vindicated it from the false glosses of the masters, 
which, injurious as they were to the Jewish religion, would 
have "eaten as doth a cancer" into the Christian — and, 
in fact, would have been a fatal obstruction to its universal- 
ity. 

To relax, indeed, any one of the moral and essential 
rules of human duty, would have been the very thing which 
our Lord most pointedly condemned in his sermon 
on the Mount — it would have been a curse, not a blessing, 
to man. The moral law is in all its parts a transcript of 
the divine goodness, and the materials of human happiness. 
What man wants is, not an alteration of the moralJaw 
of his Maker, but pardon, grace, salvation, — motive and 
strength to love God and to keep his commandments, and 
more particularly that which is rather a boon and oift than 
a precept — which was made for man; and which, when 
cleared by the Lord of the Sabbath from the austerities 
which perverted all its designs and evaporated all its spirit, 
is set forth in his kingdom in more than its original dignity 
and s;lory. 

III. We proceed, then, to our next point, which is in- 
deed implied in what we have already proved — That noth- 
ing is abrogated under the Christian dispensation with re- 
spect to the Sabbath, but those temporary and figur- 
ative ENACTMENTS WHICH CONSTITUTED THE PECULI- 
ARITIES OF THE JEWISH AGE. 

For that these are abrogated it is important for us to re- 
member. We maintain not now the Jewish Sabbath, nor the 
Mosaic Sabbath, nor the ceremonial Sabbath. Here we re- 
quest a particular attention. It is a misconception almost 
constantly made. The moment we defend the original insti- 
tution of the Sabbath in paradise, and its perpetuity and au- 
thority as a part of the moral law, we are suspected of leaning 
towards the Jewish Sabbath. And when we go on to show 
that our Lord never violated the Mosaic enactments but 
honored them in his whole ministry, and left the Sabbath 
in its full force, we are condemned at once as bringing in 
again the abrogated ceremonies. We assert, then, just 
as strongly, that the Jewish Sabbath is abolished, as we 
maintain that the primitive and patriarchal is restored and 
reanimated with the peculiar grace and motives of the 
Christian dispensation. The moral, essential law of the 
*9 



102 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FitOM 

day of rest remains, nay is increased in obligation, like 
every other precept of the decalogue; the ceremonial and 
judicial superadditions have passed away with the dispen- 
sation which gave them birth. 

Our argument from the example and doctrine of our 
Lord went, indeed, to prove, not only that he recognized 
the moral law of the fourth commandment, but that he 
also honored its Mosaical ceremonies, because he was "a 
minister of the circumcision for the truth of God." What 
we now assert is, that after the resurrection of Christ, and 
the descent of the Holy Spirit, the gospel-day burst upon 
the world, and dissipated "the shadows" of the Jewish 
law — the Mosaic covenant "decayed and waxed old and 
was ready to vanish away," and the evangelical covenant 
took its place — all that part of the sabbatical observances 
which was temporary and figurative, and dependant on the 
Jewish theocracy, was carried away; and nothing left but 
the primary essential law of one day's religious rest, after 
six days' labor, as first promulgated in paradise, as re-es- 
tablished and reduced to a written precept in the moral 
law, and as explained and vindicated from Pharisaical 
impositions by our gracious Redeemer. We have now 
a better covenant, a nobler mediator, a more glorious high 
priest, a more free and unembarrassed way of access, a 
richer sacrifice; other altar, temple, worship, and sacra- 
ments; a new and simpler sanctification of the season al- 
lotted for all these duties. The introductory dispensation 
is taken out of the way, the scaffolding removed, the em- 
blems abrogated; and the last dispensation, the spiritual 
building and perfect atonement, are come. 

The Jewish Sabbath is no more in force since, than it 
was before, the Mosaical economy. The double sacri- 
fices, and indeed all sacrifices of animals; the shew-bread; 
the holy vestments; the Levitical priesthood itself; the civil 
and judicial statutes; the signs and badges of a national 
covenant; the ceremonial ablutions; the limitation to the 
particular day of the seven for its observance; the spirit of 
bondage; the whole manner and tone of worship as suited 
to that servile and imperfect state of things, are gone. 
These, if now insisted on (and possibly they have been in 
some periods of the Christian Church) may be justly de- 
nominated, carnal ordinances ; "weak and beggarly ele- 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 103 

ments; a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able 
to bear."* We are, in all these and similar respects, to 
stand fast in "the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us 
free, and not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage."')* 

The converts, indeed, from the Jewish people were per- 
mitted to observe for a season the injunctions of the Mo- 
saic institutes — and those connected with the Sabbath 
amongst the number — supposing they relied not upon them 
for justification. Thus St. Paul circumcised Timothy, ful- 
filled his vow as a Nazarite, kept the Jewish Sabbath after 
the Christian had commenced, walked unblameably in the 
ordinances; that is, "to the Jew he became a Jew, that 
he might gain the Jews; to them that were under the law, 
as under the law, that he might gain them that were under 
the law."J 

But the authority of all that was ceremonial, was void, 
and the practice gradually ceased. The Gentile converts 
were strongly urged to resist all imposition of the antiquated 
yoke, and were taught the true spirituality of the Christian. 
"Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was 
against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the 
way, nailing it to his cross. Such is the apostolic declara- 
tion; to which succeeds the inference — "Let no man, 
therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of 
an holy-day, or the new-moon, or of the Sabbath-days; 
which are a shadow of things to come; but the body 
is of Christ."§ 

And yet more pungently to the self-justifying* Galatians; 
"How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly ele- 
ments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage! Ye ob- 
serve days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid 
of you, lest I have bestowed on you labor in vain."|j 

So, with his wonted tenderness where sincerity of faith 
appeared, to the unestablished Roman converts, "Him that 
is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful dispu- 
tations. For one man believeth that he may eat all things; 
another who is weak, eateth herbs. One man esteemeth 
one day above another; another esteemeth everyday alike: 
let every man be fully persuaded in his own raind."1T 

* Gal. iv. 9. Acts xv. 10. t Gal. v. 1. | 1 Cor. ix. 20. 

§ Col. ii. 14—17. || Gal. iv. 7— i 1. IT Rom. xiv. 1 ; 5. 



104 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

How these passages could ever be supposed to be meant 
to abolish the moral and essential law of the Sabbath, (or 
the Lord's day, which was the name it assumed imme- 
diately upon the Resurrection's drawing it to the first day 
of the week,) it is difficult to conceive. No doubt, if the 
anticipated history be received, and if the assertion of the 
merely ceremonial nature of the Sabbath be admitted, this 
or any other consequence may be shown to follow. But 
having now a right to take for granted the actual insti- 
tution of the day of rest in Paradise — its actual moral 
character and obligation, from its incorporation into the 
decalogue — its essential dignity and importance even when 
surrounded with the appendages of the intervening economy 
of Moses — its inherent authority as urged in the most 
evangelical of the prophecies — and its entire simplicity and 
force when purified from the corruptions of the Pharisees 
by our Savior; — having a right to take all this for granted, 
the passages- just cited strongly confirm our general argu- 
ment, by showing that nothing but the ceremonies and 
shadows connected with it are dispersed; the substance of 
course still remaining. 

In fact, what took place with regard to the fourth com- 
mandment, happened, as we have already observed, to all 
the others. The moral law assumed, as it entered the 
Mosaic dispensation, her robes of emblematic and civil 
ceremony. Each commandment was adorned with appen- 
dages. When that dispensation ceased, she put off her 
robes, and re-assumed her original simplicity of attire. 
And now the Queen of days approaches us with that native 
majesty and authority which was veiled, but not lost, during 
the figurative age; — a majesty and authority, which was 
derived from her first coronation in Paradise, which was 
augmented by the public proclamation of her rights on Mount 
Sinai, and which she retains with increased privileges and 
prerogatives under the New Testament. 

IV. For this is the last point which establishes the dig- 
nity and glory of the weekly day of religious rest under the 
Christian dispensation, that the distinguishing prom- 
ise of the New Testament has for its object to 
render the duties of the Sabbath more delight- 
ful, AND THUS INCREASES TENFOLD THEIR OBLIGA- 
TION. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 105 

For what is the distinguishing promise of the New Tes- 
tament? What is the characteristic of the gospel? Is it 
not the larger grace of the Holy Spirit? Is it not that it 
is "the ministration of the Spirit?" And what is the most 
important office of the divine Spirit? Is it not to write 
this very law, these very ten commandments, and none 
other, this very decalogue which was effaced from the heart 
of man by the fall, and which was republished with so much 
solemnity on Mount Sinai, and written on tables of stone 
with the finger of God, and deposited in the ark — is it not 

TO WRITE THIS LAW UPON THE HEART OF MAN? And 

would our Lord have promised the Holy Spirit for this pur- 
pose, if he had himself relaxed any part of this law? And 
does not this promised aid increase the obligations of this 
law upon man, and exhibit its importance with a tenfold 
force ? 

Read the apostle's comment in the 8th chapter of his 
epistle to the Hebrews, where he describes the new cove- 
nant, and contrasts it with the old; "Behold, the days 
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant 
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not 
according to the covenant, which I made with their fathers., 
in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out 
of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my 
covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For 
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my 
laws (the very decalogue of which we speak) into their 
mind, and write them in their hearts."* 

And accordingly is not the first commandment, to wor- 
ship one God, thus written upon the heart? Is not the 
second, to worship him not with graven images? Is not the 
third, not to take his awful name in vain? And so of all 
the others? And is the fourth then omitted? Is there a 
gap, a failure in the divine code? Was the fourth pre- 
cept inserted in the decalogue by a mistake ? Are there 
ten commandments in the law, and only nine written on the 
heart? Is the institution of the Sabbath engraven and ex- 
hibited in the very order of the first creation, and not en- 
graven in the order of the new creation ?f Is the soul of 

* Heb. viii. 8—10. 

t "If any man be in Christ he is a new -creature;" or, new creation. 
—2 Cor. v. 17. 



106 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

man formed to this heavenly temper in all other respects, 
and has he no taste for devoting the seventh portion of his 
time for the immediate service of his God ? No, my breth- 
ren, we have no abrogation of the immutable law of God 
under the New Testament. On the contrary, the office of 
the Holy Spirit is to infix it deeply in all its parts on the 
inmost soul of man. This confirms and clenches all our pre- 
ceding arguments; and especially that from the conduct and 
doctrine of our Lord, by whom the Spirit was sent for the 
comfort and guidance of the church. 

The apostle yet more distinctly teaches us this, when he 
says, that the Christian is an epistle of Christ, and refers 
to the two tables of the law as transcribed on the human 
heart, and to the Holy Spirit as the divine Author of the 
transcription. Mark, I entreat you, his language: "For- 
asmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of 
Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the 
Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in 
fleshly tables of the heart. " # Here then are the 
two tables of the law — the first and second — the one con- 
taining the precepts of the love of God; the other, those 
of the love of man. Here is a precise transfer of this law, 
a removal from mere tablets of stone, to the fleshly tablets 
of the heart. In this transfer, do any of the command- 
ments fall away? In the Christian's heart, the two tablets 
are re-impressed, the two tablets as they came from the 
hand of God. And has the fourth commandment disap- 
peared in the passage through which all the rest have found 
their way from the tablets of a literal inscription, to those of 
the Christian's heart? No, my brethren, if "there were a 
window in the Christian's bosom, you would see the fourth 
commandment filling as large a space of that epistle which 
is written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living 
God, as it does in the decalogue of Moses."! You will 
find the Christian saying, "I delight" in this, as well as 
every other part of "the law of God, after the inner man;"J 
you will find him acknowledging with St. John, "His com- 
mandments are not grievous ;"§ you will find him saying 

* 2 Cor. iii. 3. f Chalmers. 

| Rom. vii. %%. J 1 John y, 3, 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 107 

with the Psalmist, "Therefore hold I straight all thy com- 
mandments, and all false ways I utterly abhor. w * 

Now just in proportion as the Holy Spirit is the grand 
peculiarity of the Christian dispensation, is the obligation 
of all the commandments, and therefore of the fourth, in- 
creased. We stated in a former place, that the new mo- 
tives which the advancing privileges and light of the church 
continually afforded, were so many additional claims of the 
day of rest upon man. But how much more are these 
claims strengthened by the aid now vouchsafed by the Holy 
Spirit — this aid being the distinguishing object of all his 
operations — producing a transfer of the law of the Sab- 
bath from stony to fleshly tables; and thus ending in a far 
lighter burden as to external service, and a far weightier 
obligation in respect of love and gratitude? 

But it is time to close the discussion, which has been 
necessarily long. A case has been made out which com- 
mends itself, I trust, to every attentive hearer, and which 
strengthens the proofs of our preceding discourses, and car- 
ries on the argument to a moral demonstration. I have 
dwelt at length on the conduct and doctrine of our Lord, 
because it is the only point where any reasonable doubt 
can be entertained. The first blush of the other objections 
condemns them. But the objection raised from this has its 
plausibility*, it demanded and has rewarded our examina- 
tion. I feel confident that in the main the view now pre- 
sented is the true one. If any doubt is suffered to rest on 
the question, whether our Savior violated the ceremonial 
law of the Sabbath, it is a subordinate point. Supposing he 
did violate the letter of this law, it was as "the Lord of the 
Sabbath," in the discharge of the highest of all commis- 
sions — that of the Savior of mankind. The topics which 
would remain would still be conclusive — that our Lord hon- 
ored and reverenced the institution itself — based his de- 
fence of what he did and said with regard to it on the Old 
Testament, and the admitted usages of the Mosaic dispen- 
sation — only opposed the false commandments of the tra- 
ditionary doctors — and left the moral and substantial duty 
untouched. These points would be admitted. Add then, 
to these, the express recognition of the ten commandments 

* Psalms cxix. 128. 



108 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

by Christ and his apostles — the conduct of the apostles in 
honoring the Sabbath after his example — and the special 
office of the Holy Ghost under the gospel, augmenting the 
obligation, whilst it facilitates the discharge of its duties — 
and we have an accumulation of evidence which requires 
no aid from the question of our Lord's exact conformity to 
the ceremonial law. 

Let any one apply the argument as thus deduced from 
the reasonings and conduct Christ concerning the moral 
law of the Sabbath, to any statute of human legislation 
which had been loaded with unauthorized usages, and let 
him ask himself, what would be the necessary effect of such 
reasoning and such conduct upon the authority of the orig- 
inal provisions of the statute; and he would instantly say, 
the establishment of that authority in its real and para- 
mount force. 

I conceive that the duty of dedicating one day in seven 
to the worship of Almighty God, was so wrought into the 
consciences of all his true servants in every age, after its 
repromulgation in the moral law had revived the memory of 
its glory as infixed in the order of creation — and that the 
observance of it was so reasonable in itself, so necessary 
to man, as man, and so delightful also to the devout mind 
— that the thought would never have occurred to any crea- 
ture, that our Lord abrogated the fourth commandment. 
The Jews accused him of breaking it, but never of denying 
its obligation or sapping its claims. The Jews at the time 
of Christ were indignant even at the violation of their oral 
precepts concerning the Sabbath, and they carried their 
prejudices with them into the Christian church. The Gen- 
tile converts had all been accustomed to religious festivals 
and days of repose — the corruptions and faint vestiges of 
the original Sabbath. All therefore were prepared for 
keeping the fourth, as well as every other of the com- 
mandments. There was no one to deny its divine author- 
ity; and when the gracious interpretation of its true im- 
port by our Lord, and the change of the day to the 
commemoration of his Resurrection (as we shall see in the 
next discourse) were acquiesced in, the ends of the institu- 
tion were fulfilled in the celebration of the divine praises in 
creation, in redemption, in grace, and in the anticipations 
of the heavenly repose. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. 109 

I. Yield, then, Christian brethren, to these accumulated 
proofs. Open your hearts to the Lord Jesus, that he may 
re-establish there the authority of the day of his heavenly 
Father. Consider the many additional motives to its ob- 
servance which flow from the grace and compassion of your 
Redeemer; mark his tenderness in asserting the day of 
rest for its proper spiritual purposes; observe his permission 
of those works of real necessity and mercy which render an 
attendance on them more practicable. You have not a 
Savior who allows the Sibhath to be buried under the rub- 
bish of human commandments. You have not a Savior 
who, from indifference or cowardice, fears to put down the 
Pharisaical imposers of austerities. No. Behold! he en- 
ters the synagogue on the holy Sabbath — he teaches; he 
applies to himself the divine prophecies concerning the Mes- 
siah; he heals the sick in confirmation of his doctrine; he 
rebukes devils, and they leave the possessed and proclaim his 
name and glory. It is the Sabbath: and it is in this way 
that the Messiah distinguishes and honors it. He vindi- 
cates his disciples plucking the ears of corn — he anoints 
the eyes of a blind man with clay — he bids the dropsy quit 
the frame of one patient, and bids another extend his with- 
ered arm — he commands the devout worshipper, bowed for 
eighteen years, and she raises herself to glorify God — he 
strengthens the impotent man, after thirty-eight years of 
' hopeless dejection, to carry miraculously his couch, and in 
that act to prove his cure. Blessed Jesus! in all this we 
see thee to be a "merciful and faithful high priest." In 
all this we see thy pity in vindicating the day of rest to its 
proper purposes. In all this we see, not the lawgiver, not 
the prophet, not Moses, not Elias— but Jesus, the wise 
and merciful Savior of mankind. Hadst thou not, O 
Savior, thus cleared up the law of the Sabbath by this 
thine holy example and doctrine, how long might thy church 
have been perplexed with doubts — how much might super- 
stition and tyranny over the conscience have prevailed! 
How little might have been left to man of the real design 
and consolation of the day of rest! But now thou hast 
vindicated the truth. Now thou hast taught not only that 
"the sabbath was made for man;" but that "man was 
not made for the sabbath." Now we have nothing 
to do under thy new dispensation, but drop the temporary 
10 



110 THE SABBATH VINDICATED FROM 

ceremonies of the Mosaic law, and return to the simplicity 
of the patriarchal worship, inspired and elevated with the 
grace of thy all-bountiful Spirit. 

II. And here let us learn, Christian brethren, to shun 
the ingratitude of making use of the compassion 
of our Savior, to the tacit disparagement of the 
Sabbath itself, which our Lord, as we have seen, has 
honored by the very acts which were alleged as infringing 
its sanctity. If the intention of our Savior was, as I am 
fully convinced every fair and unprejudiced hearer will admit, 
to magnify his heavenly Father's institution — if every denun- 
ciation against the hypocrisy and severity of the Pharisees 
was so much of real dignity and authority added to the Sab- 
bath; then let us beware of the guiit of abusing all this to 
unrighteousness and irreligion. What avails that God allows 
works of necessity and mercy to be done on the Sabbath, if 
your practice desecrates the whole day by works of folly and 
sin? What avails it that God will "have mercy and not 
sacrifice," when you give him neither ? # Surely no abuse 
of the divine goodness can be more criminal than to take 
occasion from a sympathy so exuberant, to rob God of his 
due, our souls of their best blessings, the poor of their sea- 
son of repose, the church of the edification of our example. 
Surely this is a branch of that practical antinomianism which 
"turns the grace of ourLord Jesus Christ into lasciviousness." 
And be it well remembered, that if we once violate con- 
science in our search after truth, there is no telling whither 
we may wander. The calm examination of the question of 
the Sabbath is our bounden duty. I am endeavoring to 
assist you in the inquiry. At the points where mistakes 
may arise, I have put you on your guard. Time for set- 
tling the judgment I readily allow: differences on minor 
branches of the argument I cheerfully concede. But this 
I must remind you of; fear, reverence, faith, simple subjec- 
tion of soul to the truth, are essential to all religious inqui- 
ries. Yield, then, to the call of grace. Abuse not the 
mercy of your Savior. Rather implore that spiritual influ- 
ence of the grand Comforter, which may render the duties 
of the Christian Sabbath a delight and joy. 

* Og-den. 



PHARISAICAL IMPOSITIONS. Ill 

III. And this is our last point of application. The 
Jewish Sabbath is no more. It is for the Christian we 
plead — that Christian sabbath for which the holy 
spirit is especially given. The yoke, not only of 
Pharisaical impositions, but of ceremonial observances, is 
broken otf your neck. The law of the Sabbath is now a 
law of love, a law of gratitude, a "law of liberty," as 
the apostle James terms it, in common with the whole moral 
law. You must imbibe this filial and gracious spirit, in 
order to have the true conception of the importance of the 
institution, and the right feelings for rejoicing in it. The 
despite done to the Holy Spirit is one cause of the neglect 
of the sacred day. You seek not his influences to enlarge 
and purify the heart. You seek not his consolations to 
animate your devotion. You complain that the Sabbath is 
a heavy day, to be got over as well as you can. You have 
no taste for its spiritual duties, no joy at its return, no re- 
pose in its divine anticipations. What does this go to 
prove? That you are yet in the state of fallen nature — 
and that, as such, you "receive not the things of the Spirit 
of God, for they are foolishness unto you, neither can you 
know them, because they are spiritually discerned ?"* 
What does this prove, but that you want the love of God, 
the spiritual life, the vital perceptions of a soul quickened 
by the Holy Spirit? Proceed then no further. Persist 
not in a course which only condemns your state of heart. 
Seek the illuminating and sanctifying influence of the Spirit. 
Almost the first truth you will discover, will be the glory 
and majesty of the Sabbath; and the next, that the exer- 
cises of that day are the festival and nourishment and ele- 
ment of the renewed and holy heart. Yes, all the trans- 
port of the Psalmist, all his repose and joy in God, all his 
mourning when banished from his courts, all his longing, 
yea, fainting after his house, all his perception of satisfac- 
tion, and relief, and holy pleasure in his service, will be 
experienced, in proportion as the vivifying Spirit quickens 
your soul. Men who are formal in religion naturally betray 
an indifference to the means of grace. As these means 
have little practical influence upon them, a small mat- 
ter induces them to dispense with the incumbrance; but the 

* 1 Cor. ii. 14. 



112 THE SABBATH VINDICATED. 

sincere Christian has his delight in the Sabbath, and in 
the public and private ordinances of religion; he is "planted 
in the house of the Lord;" he is at home there; his 
best pleasures, his warmest hopes, his most tranquil repose, 
his plenary satisfaction of soul, his liveliest pledges and an- 
ticipations of a heavenly rest, are drawn from the sacred 
and most gracious institution, in the services of which he 
waits to be prepared and ripened for that upper temple, 
those heavenly mansions, where he "shall dwell in the 
house of the Lord forever." 



SERMON IV. 



THE SABBATH TRANSFERRED BY DIVINE AUTHORITY 
FROM THE SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY OF THE 
WEEK, OR LORD'S DAY. 



Revelation i. 10. 

1 was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. 

We have now completed all that is essential in the first 
division of our general subject. We have proved the di- 
vine authority and perpetual obligation of a weekly religious 
rest. We have traced it from its institution in Paradise 
to the time of the Mosaical dispensation. We have con- 
sidered its insertion in the ten commandments, and the dig- 
nity assigned to it by Moses and the prophets, as of essen- 
tial moral obligation. We have also shown that it was 
vindicated by our Lord from the corruptions of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, and left in more than its primeval import- 
ance and authority. We might now pass on to the second 
or practical division of our subject, if we were not called 
on first to consider the transfer of the day on which the 
Sabbath under the gospel is kept, from the last to the first 
of the week. As the stress of the law has from the begin- 
ning been shown to lie on the proportion of time between 
the working days and the day of rest, the mere change of 
the particular period in the week when we celebrate our 
Sabbath, cannot in itself be considered important. So 
*10 



114 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

long as one day is sanctified out of every seven, the pur- 
port of the institution is accomplished. Still it is necessary 
to explain the manner in which the alteration took place. 
For as the seventh day in order was fixed by the Almighty 
himself after the work of the creation, and as the Jew ob- 
served the same, or at least considered his six days' work 
to precede, and not follow his Sabbath, it is important to 
show the authority which retarded its celebration under the 
gospel, and fixed it one day later than the Jewish usage. 
Any change in a divine command, though in a point of 
itself subordinate, requires a sufficient reason, or we are 
guilty of altering, of our own minds, an authoritative rule 
of Almighty God. 

We shall show, then, in the present discourse, that our 
day of religious rest, under the gospel, is not the Jewish 
Sabbath, but the Lord's day. We shall show that the 
change from the seventh to the first day of the week, was 
made on the authority of Christ and his apostles. We shall 
show that the transfer took place naturally, and almost 
necessarily, from the events attending the accomplishment 
of redemption. These points will of necessity occupy time 
— perhaps more than any preceding topic. But they will 
deserve all our care; as the alteration in question, non- 
essential as it is in itself, has perhaps more disturbed the 
minds of uninformed Christians, and more aided the cause 
of those who oppose the divine authority of the Christian 
Sabbath, than all the other objections together. 

To proceed, then, in order, we shall first direct your at- 
tention to several preparatory circumstances in the 
history of the law of the Sabbath, which lay a probable 
ground for the change of the day: and then, secondly, the 
manner in which the change itself was gradually 

INTRODUCED. 

I. The preparatory circumstances are numerous. 

For, first, the proportion of time, which we have 
more than once alluded to, is not only an obvious part of 
the first institution in Paradise, but is so prominent in the 
wording of the fourth commandment, and in its different 
republications, as to lay a probable ground for the change 
of the day of celebration, if any paramount reasons should 
occur. If out of seven days, one be sanctified to holy rest, 
the spirit as well as the terms of the law are satisfied. In 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 115 

the general course of nature, indeed, labor precedes re- 
pose; and in the primitive institution, the day of the Sab- 
bath fell, from the order of creation and the example of the 
Almighty, upon the seventh, or last of the week. But even 
here the proportion of time between the working days and 
the day of rest, is laid as a foundation for the whole. The 
distribution of the work of creation over six days, marks 
the reason why the seventh was given to repose; and shows 
that the essence of the institution would be preserved, if 
after six days of labor, one of rest should succeed. Ac- 
cordingly, in the revival of the Sabbath at the period of 
the fall of manna, not one word is said of the last day or 
the first day. All you can collect is, that they were to 
gather manna six days, and make a Sabbath of the sev- 
enth. Again, the fourth commandment, as we have said, 
is so worded as to admit of the change of the day of rest, 
without at all violating the institution. And this the divine 
lawgiver doubtless so arranged, with a view to the altera- 
tion which the gospel would introduce. The Jew could 
never have determined from this command on what day his 
first Sabbath was to be kept. It enjoins no more than that 
the interval of time between rest and rest should be six 
days. The proportion of the days is the essential point. 
The Christian Sabbath, in the sense of the fourth com- 
mandment, is as much the seventh day, as the Jewish Sab- 
bath was the seventh day. It is kept after six days labor, 
as that was. It is the seventh day, reckoning from the 
beginning of our first working day, as well as their Sab- 
bath was the seventh day, reckoning from the beginning of 
their first working day.* So, in all the recapitulations of 
the fourth commandment, the substance is the proportion of 
time which we dedicate to God — a seventh portion with 
respect to six days' labor — and therefore the six days' la- 
bor are always noted when the seventh is spoken of. The 

* " The fourth commandment does not determine which day of the 
week we should keep as a Sabbath; but only that we should keep every 
seventh day, or one day after six. It says, 'Six days shalt thou labor, 
and the seventh thou shalt rest;' which implies no more than that after 
six days of labor, we should upon the next to the sixth rest. The words 
no way determine where these six days should begin, nor where the rest 
of the Sabbath should fall: that is supposed to be determined elsewhere. 
The precept in the fourth commandment is to be taken generally of such 
a seventh day as God should appoint, or had appointed/ 7 — J. Edwards, 
— and so Dean Milner. 



116 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

day when we begin to compute is, abstractedly speaking, of 
very little consequence. Our Lord's day may be called 
the seventh in relation to the six days' work, as well as the 
first in reference to the Jewish Sabbath, which preceded it. 
This single circumstance clears the whole question. 

2. But there is, in the next place, the highest proba- 
bility that the exact computation of time from the creation 
was lost during the bondage of Egyft, and that 
the Jewish Sabbath was reckoned from some other day — 
the day of the redemption, for example — and not from the 
day when the Almighty rested after the creation. If this 
be the case, we are thrown yet more completely upon the 
proportion of time. Two thousand five hundred years of 
an unwritten law, closed with centuries of oppression in the 
Egyptian captivity, had in all probability disturbed the 
exact reckoning of weeks. An irregular observation of the 
sacred day had crept in previously — the impossibility of 
generally celebrating it at all, was doubtless one consequence 
of their task-masters' exactions;* and thus, though the 
institution was by no means effaced from their memory, the 
order of weeks was most likely interrupted. Nothing is 
more difficult than to preserve, in an early state of science 
and civilization, the accurate calculation of festivals, espe- 
cially when recurring frequently, and admitting of an insen- 
sible removal from their relative position, by changes in the 
revolutions of the heavenly bodies. The alteration is in 
such a case slight, and the order of things is tolerably well 
kept up. Many learned men, therefore, agree in thinking 
that it is highly improbable, that the day observed as the 
first Sabbath after the deliverance from Egypt, was pre- 
cisely the same as the day on which the Almighty rested 
after the creation of man. They think it more likely that 
the redemption from bondage was the period whence the 
new reckoning dated. | Certain it is that the ten com- 
mandments are prefaced with a reason drawn from this 
great benefit — "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee 

* Cogitavi Egypto ubi serviebas, etiarn ipso sabbato per vim te esse 
coactum ad labores. — Manasseh Ben Israel, on Deut. v. 15. 

t J. Mede, Grotius, Abp. Bramhall, J. Edwards, Dean Milner, Scott, 
all think the reckoning was lost, and was re-commenced at the fall of 
manna, Exodus xvi. And most of them conceive the new computation 
began from the day of Egyptian redemption. 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 117 

out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."* 
And, what is more important, at the recapitulation of the law 
forty years afterwards, the same preface to the decalogue is 
retained, but the motive enforcing the fourth commandment 
is no longer drawn from the work of creation, but from that 
of redemption, as if that were the reason and date of the 
particular day on which the celebration was renewed. 
"And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of 
Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence 
through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; — 
therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep 
the Sabbath-day. | Not a word is here said about the 
creation, as when the institution in paradise was cited in the 
first promulgation on Mount Sinai; but the Sabbath is ex- 
pressly appointed to commemorate the mighty deliverance 
from Egypt. It is probable, therefore, that this was the 
day whence the new computation started. When the di- 
vine Savior, then, appeared and wrought out an eternal 
redemption, it was natural, it was almost necessary, that 
the day should be changed from the commemoration of the 
type to the commemoration of the antitype. The Sabbath 
then follows the mightiest benefit in each dispensation. In 
the patriarchal, creation; in the Mosaical, the redemption 
from Egypt; in the Christian, the spiritual redemption in 
the death and resurrection of Messiah. The essential 
point, the proportion of time, is untouched throughout. But 
let us proceed to observe, 

3. That these things being so, the very freedom and 

UNIVERSALITY OF THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION Would lead 

us to think that the same principle would be carried on, 
that the precise day of the week on which the Sabbath 
should be kept, would be less insisted on, and that a rule 
would be laid down applicable to all nations, in all ages, 
and in all parts of the world. While men were few, and 
lived nearly in the same quarter, as before the dispersion 
of Babel, and during the Mosaical economy, it would be 
easy to keep a pretty exact computation of the succession 
of time, as soon as the date from which the reckoning was 
to begin was given — or if the date was lost, as it proba- 
bly was during the bondage of Egypt, as soon as the new 

* Exod. xx. 11. f Deut. v. 15. 



118 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

sera was once determined on. But consider how different 
is the nature of the case under the gospel. Here you have 
not a distinct line of patriarchs, or a favored nation under 
a theocracy, but a dispensation designed for the whole race 
of mankind, whose disciples are multiplied in every quarter 
of the globe, and live under all meridians, and with every 
variety of civil government and scientific improvement. 
An appointed season dependent on a succession of days, 
and losing its validity if the day be miscalculated, seems, 
therefore, not very likely to be established under such a 
dispensation. Of two navigators sailing round the world 
in opposite directions, one would lose and the other gain a 
day in his computation — there would be a variation of two 
days. Now, which would be the seventh day of the week 
to each of the navigators? When Pitcairn's Island in the 
South Seas was visited a few years since by an English 
ship, our voyagers, on the day when they arrived, which 
was Saturday, found the islanders observing Sunday; the 
English ship and the islanders having arrived at the island 
by sailing from England in opposite directions. Under the 
gospel, then, we might expect that our duty would be fixed 
upon a plain and easy computation; that after six days of 
labor there should succeed one day of rest, without troub- 
ling men in all the regions of the earth, and under all cir- 
cumstances, with reckoning up the course of weeks or the 
order of days from the beginning, which it would be utterly 
impossible for them to settle, if it were material. 

How admirably the wisdom of God has provided for this 
in the arrangement and wording of the law of the Sabbath 
from the first, I need not observe. Nor is it necessary to 
remark how naturally the change of the Jewish day of ob- 
servance, to the Christian, would fall in with this design, 
and expedite the practical execution of it. 

I think one would allow these remarks to be almost 
enough for the point in hand. Suppose any should say, the 
day of celebrating the sacred rest of religion has been 
changed under the gospel to honor our Lord's accomplish- 
ment of redemption, and has been so kept, as nearly as 
possible, by the whole church of Christ from the very age 
of the apostles; the essential law of the Sabbath, the pro- 
portion of time, being always preserved inviolate; I should 
conceive such a statement would be satisfactory. Nor do 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 119 

I think any thing would have been objected to such a state- 
ment if the Jewish seventh-day-Sabbath had not been as- 
sumed to be the same with the seventh-day-Sabbath in para- 
dise. This confuses the subject. It seems to make the 
seventh day a fundamental matter; whilst the real sub- 
stance of the institution, the measure of working and rest- 
ing days, is forgotten. Doubtless, also, those who had 
first feigned an anticipated history, and then banished the 
Sabbath from the moral law, and lastly, accused our Sa- 
vior of repealing that command, have been ready enough to 
seize on the merely non-essential circumstance of the change 
of the day of celebration, to prop up their falling cause. 
And thus it has happened that this subordinate, has, in 
truth become a primary, question, from the accidental im- 
portance attached to it. But we proceed. 

4. The word of prophecy does not, indeed, express- 
ly announce a change of the day of the Sabbath, but it 
affords such intimations as are quite consistent with such a 
transfer. The "old creation" — the state of things under 
the law — shall not be remembered, but the "new creation" 
i — the state of things under the gospel — shall.*" The 
Christian church shall have her ministers, solemnities, Sab- 
baths, and holy ordinances, all referring directly to the 
Messiah. A new dispensation shall be introduced, in 
which the alteration shall be so great and extensive as to 
be fitly compared to "new heavens and a new earth," 
which shall efface the memory of the old. Read the glow- 
ing language itself: "Behold, I create new heavens and a 
new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor 
come to mind." "As the new heavens and the new earth 
which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, 
so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall 
come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from 
one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship 
before me, saith the Lord."f 

But a more explicit prediction, embracing the change of 
the day of celebrating the Sabbath, or, at the least, giving 
an intimation of it, is found in the 118th Psalm. "The 
stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone 
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvel- 

* Called in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "the world to coine," ii. 5. 
t Isa. lxv. 17; IxW. 22, 235 and J - Edwards on them. 



120 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

lous in our eyes."* Here the stone spoken of is Christ;" 
the passage being six times applied to him in the New 
Testament. He was rejected of the builders when he was 
put to death; he was made the head of the corner when he 
rose triumphant from the tomb. While Christ lay in the 
grave, he lay as a stone cast away by the builders; but 
when raised from the dead, he became the head of the cor- 
ner. | This was a great and marvellous act. Now the 
day when this was done, as we are next taught, is appoint- 
ed to be the day of the rejoicing of the church. "This is 
the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be 
glad in it. "J To what day does the prophet here refer? 
On what day did Christ rise from the dead? Was it not 
on the first day of the week? Was not this the very day 
of triumph, the glorious day of Messiah's being made the 
head of the corner? Does the psalmist refer, then, to any 
other day? Or does he not rather refer to this most dis- 
tinguished and peculiar one? To this, no doubt. And 
what does he say shall be the employment of it under the 
New Testament? "This, is the day which the Lord hath 
made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." The pre- 
diction is more decisive, because the celebration of public 
worship is the topic which introduces it, "open to us the 
gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and will praise 
the Lord: this gate of the Lord, into which the righteous 
shall enter."§ Here then is an intimation, to say the 
least, that the Christian day of joy shall fall on the day 
of the resurrection of Messiah — which the Lord's day hath 
done ever since the promulgation of the gospel. We dwell 
not, however, on this topic. A further one has greater 
weight. 

5. In the next and most perfect dispensation of the di- 
vine grace — the gospel — such a complete revolution 

ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE IN THE WHOLE STATE OF THE 

church, that it seems natural that so important a branch 
of religious observances as the Sabbath, should follow the 
new order of things. This remark strengthens the intima- 
tions of the prophetic word which we have just noted, and 
falls in entirely with our previous topics — the preparatory 

* Ps. cxviii. 22, 23. t Dr. Lightfoot and J. Edwards. 
$ Ps. cxviii, 24. § Ver. 19, 20. 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 121 

circumstances in the terms and arrangements of the law, 
the probable change of reckoning in the wilderness, and 
the demands of an universal religion. The Sabbath, in 
the progress of ages, was continually acquiring new ends 
by new manifestations of the covenant of redemption; and 
those new ends coming to their height in the gospel, justify 
a correspondent alteration in a subordinate point of the 
sabbatical institution. "The priesthood being changed," 
says the apostle, "there is made of necessity a change also 
in the law."* We have a new Mediator, a new covenant, 
new promises, a new way of access, a new spirit of holy 
confidence, a new high priest; and therefore a new object in 
the computation of the weekly Sabbath — the glory and tri- 
umph of the Mediator in his resurrection. These are term- 
ed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "the world to come. "I 
This constitutes what the prophets call as we have just 
seen, "the new heavens and the new earth; and which St. 
Peter denominates by the same strong and figurative ex- 
pression. J These form that "dispensation of the fulness of 
times when God gathers together all things in Christ, both 
things in heaven and things in earth. "§ Not one thing 
only is changed, but all. Accordingly, "the former shall 
not be remembered nor come to mind."|| The Sabbath, 
then, probably follows the new course. And this appears 
the more likely, from the circumstance of the new creation 
being described as leading to the rest of the Mediator after 
he had completed it, even as the old creation led to the 
rest of the Almighty after he had finished his work — a rest 
granted in each case as a boon to man, and pledging that 
eternal rest with God in heaven, in which it terminates, 
and which is the ultimate felicity proposed in all the dispen- 
sations of grace. We cannot enter into the details of the 
apostle's noble argument on this subject. IT We observe 

*Heb. vii. 12. tHeb. ii. 5. +2 Peter iii. 13. JEph. i. 10. 
||Isa. Ixv. 17. 
TF "So T sware in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest. So we see 
they could not enter in, because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear lest a 
promise being left us/ 7 (by the gospel,) "of entering into his rest/ 7 (that 
of the Lord Christ,) "any of you should seem to come short of it. For 
we which have believed, do enter into rest/ 7 (the Christian Sabbath and 
rest, as a pledge and preparation of the heavenly.) "For he spake in a 
certain place 77 (Gen. ii. 2,) "of the -seventh day in this wise, and God did 
rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again/' 
(Psalm xcv. 11.) "If they shall enter into my rest. There remaineth 
11 



122 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

only, that as at tlie first creation, the Almighty was pleas- 
ed to work six days, and then rest on the seventh, in or- 
der to exhibit an instructive lesson for man's imitation; and 
as his resting on the seventh day was a sufficient intima- 
tion of the precise day of Sabbath appointed for man; so 
in the second creation Christ wrought his work of restora- 
tion and redemption during his ministry, and then rested, 
and was refreshed from that kind of work by which he laid 
the foundations of "the new heavens and the new earth;" 
and thus he marked out precisely the new day of sabbatis- 
ing under the gospel, the first of the week. Then "he 
ceased from his own works, as God did from his;" then he 
entered by his resurrection into his rest; then he rested 
and was refreshed, and saw of "the travail of his soul and 
was satisfied; 5 ' then he left, in the new day of Sabbath, 
a new pledge of heavenly felicity to his church. 

Thus to each dispensation of the divine covenant a pecu- 
liar rest was attached — to the patriarchal, to the Mosaical, 
to the evangelical. The patriarchal was founded in the 
first creation, after which God ceased from his works, pro- 
posed to man a rest with himself in heaven, and appointed 
a Sabbath as a remembrance of the one and the pledge of 
the other. The Mosaical dispensation was founded in the 
redemption from Egypt, when God again ceased from his 
mighty works of forming and creating a people ; # proposed 
a rest with himself to man, and gave him the pledge of it 
in the Jewish Sabbath. The gospel dispensation is found- 
ed in the new creation wrought by the Lord Christ, who 

therefore a rest/' (a da} r of sabbatical rest in earth and heaven, and the 
one the pledge of the other.) "for the people of God. For he that is en- 
tered into his rest/ 7 (even Jesus our Lord, the author of ail this new crea- 
tion,) "he also hath ceased from his own works 77 (of redemption and new 
creation) "as God did from his," (of the old creation.) ''Let us labor, 
therefore, to enter into that rest/ 7 (of heaven, of which our Christian weekly 
Sabbath is a pledge and foretaste.) "lest any man fall after the same ex- 
ample of unbelief. 77 I have inserted a few words of parenthesis from 
Dr. J Owen, J. Edwards, Dwight, Scott, Arch. Pott, &c. who concur 
in the interpretation; which is, in fact, the only one that can stand. 

* "This people I have formed for myself. 77 — Isaiah xliii. 2. And so 
in many other passages, the Mosaical covenant is termed a creation, the 
work of God 7 s hands, &c. It is striking also to observe that the last 
glorious state of the church terminating in the rest of heaven, or perhaps 
the heavenly state itself, is described in the apocalypse under the same 
image; "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, 77 — Rev. xxi 1. — 
Owen, Edwards. 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 123 

redeems, renews, and writes his law upon the heart of man 
by his Spirit, and introduces a new and more spiritual state 
of religion. From this creating work Christ ceased, at 
his resurrection; he was then refreshed in the view of his 
works, and proposed his own rest to be called after his 
name, as the sign of the new covenant and the pledge of 
the heavenly rest (the keeping of a Sabbath, the sabbatis- 
ing) which remains to his people. And as the day of re- 
pose followed certainly the precise order of working and of 
rest in the first dispensation, and was altered, as we prob- 
ably conclude, in the Mosaical, to follow the day of redemp- 
tion; so in the last and most perfect dispensation, it is 
again changed as to the precise time of its celebration, to 
dignify the day of spiritual redemption; and thus the patri- 
4 archal and Jewish Sabbath become the Lord's day. 

We can suppose nothing more fitting, more necessary, so 
to speak, than so slight and yet significant a change! 
j What! have we a new church, the gospel; new ordinances 
in that church, ceremonial worship taken down and spirit- 
ual set up; new sacraments, baptism and the Lord's sup- 
per, for circumcision and the passover; a new Mediator, 
Christ instead of Moses; a new covenant, founded on the 
better promises of the gospel; a new command of that 
covenant, to love one another; a new object of divine wor- 
ship and confidence, the Lord Jesus; — in a word, have we 
• all things new: and have we not a new Sabbath fitted for 
u all this new creation ? # Yes, the Jewish rest is, under the 
gospel, the Lord's day. 

6. One more indication must be noticed, which binds 
together all the preceding. The claims which Christ 

ADVANCED DURING HIS MINISTRY OF LEGISLATING FOR 
THE SABBATH, AS ITS SOVEREIGN AND LORD, lays a pro- 
bable ground for the alteration of the day of its observance, 
and even intimates that some such change would take place. 
One of the most striking of these claims is in the passage 
which we formerly considered. | Jesus there asserts first 
the grand moral end of the Sabbath — then cautions us 
against the perverse traditions which would render man a 
slave to the external forms of that institution — and lastly, 
draws this emphatic and oracular conclusion, "Therefore 

* Lightfoot. f Mark ii. 27, 23, Sermon III. 



124 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH," ex- 
alted as that appointment confessedly is, most ancient in 
time, first in dignity, most universal as to extent, most du- 
rable and permanent in point of continuance — he is Lord 
even of the Sabbath, to claim it as his own, to transfer the 
day of its celebration, to fix on it his own name, to sweep 
away human traditions, and re-establish it in all its original 
simplicity and compassionate aspect upon man. Yes, Jesus 
is the "Lord of the Sabbath ;"-- "the heir of all things," 
"the first-born from the dead," the "head over all things 
to his church," "the prince of life," the "only begotten of 
the Father," the "Lord of all." He is not like Moses 
"a servant," but has power "in his own house," as a "Son," 
to dispose of the affairs of that house as he may please.* 
With this high claim, accords another which he made on 
the very same occasion — the defence of his disciples when 
accused wrongfully of having violated the Sabbath. "But 

I SAY UNTO YOU, IN THIS PLACE IS ONE GREATER THAN. 

the temple,! glorious as it is, surrounded with tokens of 
the divine majesty, the seat of religions ordinances, and 
the place of the immediate manifestations of the Deity. 
"There is one greater than the temple," — which is a figure 
merely of my human nature, and derives all its dignity from 
the indwelling Deity. "There is one greater than the 
temple," — and therefore one authorized to regulate the 
service of the temple, and fix the day of religious assemblies 
in his church. 

Once more, when accused of the Jews, most probably 
before the Sanhedrim, on the very same subject — a sup- 
posed violation of the Sabbath — how sublime is his reply! 
"My father worketh hitherto, and I work. "J — 
What a claim is implied in these words! The interruption, 
indeed, given by the Jews, upon his uttering this language of 
Deity, leaves us in some uncertainty as to the precise im- 
port of the argument; but if it be considered as only an 
assumption of divine operations generally, it is still conclu- 
sive as to his power over the Sabbath and the Jewish cor- 
ruptions of the law of it. But if we refer it, with Dr. 
Lightfoot, to his working like his Father, who ever acts by 
his providence, even upon the Sabbath^ though he rested 

* Heb. iii. 5, 6, t Matt, xii. 6. j. John v. 17, 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 125 

from the works of creation on that day, and blessed and 
sanctified it; the argument of our Lord is more direct to 
his immediate purpose. It then imports, 'As my Father, 
though he hath ceased from the act of creation, worketh still 
in all succeeding time, the Sabbath not excepted, in sustain- 
ing man, rescuing him from danger, recovering him from 
sickness, sending him rain from heaven and fruitful showers, 
causing his sun to rise upon him; so I, the Son of God, 
work also in carrying on my providential actings continu- 
ally, and even on the Sabbath; fulfilling my divine mission, 
healing diseases when occasions present themselves, prov- 
ing the truth of my doctrine by enabling an impotent man 
to bear away his couch before my assembled adversaries, 
vindicating the Sabbath from unauthorized impositions, 
claiming it as my proper institution, and fixing the day of 
its observance after my own pleasure.' 

Here, then, are laid grounds for the alteration of the 
day. What more appropriate than the Lord's day, to 
mark the authority of "the Lord of the Sabbath?" "If 
,. one greater than the temple be here," what more becoming 
than that the worship of the New Testament temple should 
follow his resurrection? If as "the Father worketh hither- 
to, so he works," what more natural than that he should 
display his power in making the Sabbath his own, working 
on it his deeds of mercy and grace, and fixing it in his own 
• kingdom as a trophy of his resurrection? 

Yes; these indications virtually prove the point in hand. 
We may now venture to profess and say, "The first day 
is the Sabbath of the Lord our Redeemer;" "The Lord 
Jesus hath blessed the first day and hallowed it:" even as 
the ancient church professed and said, "The Lord hath 
blessed the seventh day and hallowed it" — "The seventh 
day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God." In a word, the 
last declaration which our Savior made in commissioning 
his apostles after his resurrection, includes an unlimited 
power over his church, and therefore the authority of chang- 
ing the day of celebrating its weekly rest: "all power 
is given me in heaven and earth; go ye, therefore, and 
teach all nations — teaching them to observe all things, 

WHATSOEVER I COMMAND YOU."* 

* Matt, xaviii. 18—20. 
*11 



126 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

ij 

We proceed, then, to consider 

II. The manner in which the change of the Sabbatfc 
from the last to the first day of the week, was grad 

ALLY INTRODUCED BY THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF OUR 
LORD AND HIS APOSTLES. 

After such preparatory indications of the transfer of the 
day of rest, and such arrangements, from the very begin- 
ning, to admit of it, much will not be necessary to show the 
divine authority of it, when actually introduced. For the* # 
change being in itself subordinate, and in no way touching 
the substance of the command, nay, being agreeable to 
the very wording of that command, we want nothing but 
sufficient intimations of the will of God, to warrant our 
compliance with the practice of the universal church from 
the days of the apostles. When an objector says, he re- 
quires an express injunction, in precise and formal terms/ 
for the observation of the Lord's day, he speaks without 
consideration. If he requires an express injunction in pre- > 
cise and formal terms for the religious dedication of one 
day in seven to God, we have it in the institution in Para- 
dise, and in the words of the fourth commandment. But 
if he requires such an express and formal injunction for a # 
subordinate change in the day of the week when that Sab- 
bath should be kept, we reply, that the case does not re- 
quire it. If God had so made our faculties, that we were 
not capable of receiving intimations of his will, even in 
matters not affecting the substance of a commandment, in 
a*:i7 other way than by a new and express injunction, there 
tatwiia be some reason to require one. But God hath given 
us such understandings, that we are capable of ascertaining ' 
his will in such cases, in another manner. If God deals , 
with us, then, agreeably to our nature and in a way suita- 
ble to our capacities, it is enough: and he may expect our 
notice and observance, and does expect our notice and ob- 
servance, in the same manner as if he had made known 
his will in express terms. * In a case, then, like the pres- 
ent, we want no direct precept. The perpetual moral ob- 
ligation of giving one day to God, after every six days' , 
labor, is confessed. The institution has been preserved on 
this footing through every dispensation. It is honored and 
left in all its force by Christ and his apoistles. There is 

* J. Edwards. 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 127 

no room then for a new precept, as for a duty unknown. 
On a point not in itself essential to the command, the tacit 
'example of our Lord, — the time of the fulfilment of the chief 
promise of the New Testament,— the doctrine and conduct 
of the inspired apostles, — the events in providence which 
swept away the Jewish polity and Sabbath, — the univer- 
sal practice of the Christian church in the primitive and 
all following ages, — and the uninterrupted blessing of God 
resting from their time to the present on the transferred 
day; — -these constitute sufficient intimations of the will of 
God. We deduce the divine authority of the change of 
the weekly rest from the Jewish to the Lord's day, as cer- 
^V.tainly frpm such intimations, as we deduce the divine au- 
thority of the essential duty of a weekly rest itself, from the 
transactions in Paradise and the formal and express in- 
junctions of the moral law. * 

I. Our Savior, then, after his passion, began to 
introduce the actual ehange tacitly and gently, by hisjf^j*'' 
own divine conduct. The first day of the week is the day 
of his resurrection. In the eternal councils of the Almighty 
* was this, and no other, day fixed. The whole arrange- 
ment of the institution of the passover had from the first a 
* respect to his great fulfilment of this typical sacrifice. Ac- 
■ cordingly it is repeatedly and emphatically noted by the 
evangelists as the precise day of his conquest over the 
• grave. He foretold it himself. The Jews were aware of 
the expected fact, and prepared, as they could, against it. 
His appearances afte'r his resurrection, marked the day 
which was to become the Lord's. Having risen on that 
blessed morn, he manifested himself four times before its 
close, to his disciples; and thus celebrated, or rather con- 
| stituted the first Christian Sabbath, on its new day of being 
observed, by his own presence. All the evangelists seem 
to delight in marking that it was on the first day of the 
week, and no other, that these transactions took place. 
St. Matthew tells us that at the "very dawn of the first 
day," the two Marys had the early tidings of the resurrec- 
tion of their Lord. St. Mark informs us, that "very 
early in the morning," that glorious event occurred. St. 
Luke relates the same with the same notification of its 
being on the first day of the week. St. John bears testi- 
mony, that "on the first dav of the week cometh Mary, 



128 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre," and there wit- 
nessed the first manifestation of her risen Redeemer." 
The second appearance, to the three women, was vouch- 
safed the same day.j The journey to Emmaus, and the 
being "known in the breaking of bread," was the third 
visit. And the fourth closed the first Christian Sabbath. 
It was made to the assembled disciples, who were already 
convened on that day, ready to begin, as it were, that joy- 
ful season the moment their Lord should appear, to open 
its solemnities. Accordingly, "the same day, at evening, 
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, 
where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, 
came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, 
Peace be unto you. Then were the disciples glad when 
they saw the Lord"J Their joy in the resurrection of their 
Master now began the Lord's day; to mark out and separate 
which more distinctly, the intervening week is allowed to 
pass without any repetition of his visits. But lo, after 
six days' work, the day of rest returns, and the second 
Lord's day is honored likewise with the presence of Christ; 
the evangelist especially noting the time of this manifesta- 
tion, which is not done as to any other, by any of the 
evangelists. "And after eight days again, "§ (the Jews 
including the portion of the days from which, and to which, 
they reckon) "his disciples were within, and Thomas with 
them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in 
the midst." "This second meeting on the same day of the 
week," says Paley, "has all the appearance of an appoint- 
ment, a design to meet on that particular day." 

Nothing is said as to the time on which the following 
manifestations were made; nor do we want them. They 
would have introduced the new day, not so gently an(J 
gradually, as we shall see it was our Savior's intention to 
introduce it. It now, as it were, insinuates itself by the 
very circumstances in which the apostles were placed. The 
Lord of the Sabbath was lying in the grave on the precise 
day of the Jewish rest. It would have been impossible for 
the mourning disciples to have celebrated the praises of the 
great Creator, of the Redeemer from Egyptian bondage, of 

* John xx. 19. t Matt, xxviii. 9—11. 

| John xx. 19 ; 20. § John xx. 26. 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. ]29 

the God who promised, and had given them, the Messiah 
and Savior, whilst that Messiah and Savior was in the 
tomb, and all the prospects of his kingdom were shrouded 
with the darkness of death. That last Jewish Sabbath was 
no Sabbath to them; but a day of sorrow, dejection, an- 
guish, consternation. The spouse could not rejoice whilst 
the bridegroom lay buried in the grave. But when the 
Lord arose on the first day of the week, then, and not be- 
fore, were "the disciples glad." Then did their sab- 
bath begin; the necessity of the case changed the day 
of peaceful happy rest in the worship and praise of 
God, from the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord's day. The 
celebration was retarded not forgotten. The old day was 
buried with Christ — the new arose with him. He had in 
the old creation rested (as being the author, one with the 
Father, of that six days' work) on the seventh day and 
sanctified it; but now as the author of the new work of 
creation, being detained in the prison of the grave on the 
old seventh day, he takes another day to rest in, the fol- 
lowing or first of the week, which thus becomes the Lord's 
day. Every thing essential in the command goes on as it 
did; the non-essential point of the precise time is changed, 
or rather delayed, a single day, to wait for its rising Mas* 
ter, and assume a new dignity, and be a memorial of the 
manifestations of a new and greater creation. 

2. The first day thus began to be introduced, is next 
marked by the gift of the great promise of the 
dispensation which it was to characterize. This will 
demand only a moment's notice. The day of pentecost has 
been abundantly shown by learned men* to have fallen on 
the Lord's day. The disciples are assembled with one 
accord in one place — the usual place of prayer: "when sud- 
denly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty 
rushing wind; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. "t 
By this gift the gospel church is first erected, and its her- 
alds endued with power from on high. Thus the great dis- 
tinguishing benefit of the New Testament being vouchsafed 
on the Lord's day, confirms the newly instituted season, 
which is to be henceforth known as the Christian Sabbath. 
The Holy Ghost descended upon it. The author of the 

* Lightfoot, Dwight, §-c. t Acts ii. 2, 







130 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

■ 

"new creation" had already arisen upon the same day. 
»Vv We join then these topics of joy to the original praises due 
for the glories of the first creation; and our Lord's day is 
dedicated to our triune God and Savior — it is dedicated to 
God the Father, as the day on which the praises of the 
most noble creatures for their first production are offered— 
it is dedicated to God the Son, whose resurrection this day 
was the new creation of the world — it is dedicated to God 
the Holy Ghost, who on this day descended visibly upon 
the apostles, as if be would proclaim algud that he hallow- 
ed it unto himself.* The gift of the Holy Ghost on the 
day of pentecost, honors and marks out the Lord's day.£- 

III. The doctrine and conduct of the apostles 
will, in the next place, be found to bring in more deci- 
dedly, yet still tenderly and gradually, the new day of the 
■*«gfcabbath. 

They were endued with the Holy Spirit granted at this 
fl^ V?V very season, on purpose to found the gospel dispensation, 
and settle its order and worship. The conduct of these 
* $ holy men, who were commissioned and delegated as am- 
bassadors for Christ has a divine authority. They teach 
indeed by their writings, they teach by their sermons and 
instructions; but they teach also by their conduct and ex« ■ 
ample. They had the infallible guidance of the Holy 
Spirit: They delivered nothing to be observed in the wor- 
ship of God, but what has the same force as if delivered by 
Christ himself — it proceeds indeed from Christ himself. In 
a matter of subordinate regulation, when the substance of 
a command has been known from the creation of man, their 
intimations are abundantly sufficient; just as their devout 
and detailed instructions are indispensable on important 
and fundamental points of doctrine or practice. "If men 
will presume," says Baxter/ "that apostles filled with the 
Spirit, appointed the Christian Sabbath without the Spirit, 
they may question any chapter or verse of the New Testa- 
ment." 

We have their testimony, then, for nearly sixty years 
recorded in the inspired pages; and this incidentally, and 
in a manner which supposes the change from the Jewish to 
the Christian Sabbath to be known and received in the 

* Archbishop BramhauY ' 

V 




SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 131 

churches. Thus, in two references made after an interval 
of nearly thirty years from the resurrection, the observance 
of the first day of the week was so far established even in 
the remotest places, that the sacred writers speak of it as 
a matter familiar and customary. "We came to Troas," 
saith St. Luke in the Acts, "where we abode seven days. 
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came 
r together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready 
to depart on the morrow."* Here on the first day of the 
week is a meeting, not of a few friends, but of the whole 
body of the disciples, in a Christian church at a great dis- 
tance from Jerusalem. It is spoken of as a practice 
already established and well known — it is an accustomed 
meeting, not upon an extraordinary summons. Paul preach- 
es to them being thus assembled together. The zealous 
apostle doubtless taught privately on other days: but it 
was on the first day of the week, when the whole church 
was accustomed to meet, according to their duty, for the 
celebration of Christian ordinances, that he preached sol- 
emnly and publicly to them. It even seems that he waited 
the arrival of the day — for he was ready to depart, and 
did depart on the morrow of it— but he would not proceed 
on his journey till after the first day of the week, and the 
instruction and ordinances of that sacred season, had taken 
place. We thus learn that already the same, or nearly 
■the same, mode of celebrating, the Sabbath was observed 
as in modern times — public assemblies — the preaching of 
God's holy word — the administration of the sacraments — 
with public prayer and praise, and acts of charity to the 
poor, constituted the Christian worship. 

At the same, or nearly the same, period, St. Paul, in his 
Epistle to the Corinthian church, incidentally mentions the 
observation of the Lord's day as a matter of course, not to 
give directions about the day itself, but in order to enjoin 
certain additional duties which were to form an important 
part of the sanctification of it. "Now concerning the col- 
lection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches 
of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week 
let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath pros- 

* Acts xx ; 6 ; 7. 



*i 

132 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

pered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."* 
It hence appears that the constant day of the church's as- 
sembling was fixed and well known — it was the first day. 
The apostle, therefore, merely directs the discharge of an 
especial duty upon it, in addition to the ordinary ones of 
prayer, breaking of bread, and preaching the gospel. He 
directs them to charitable contributions; and he directs this 
in a manner which implies that it should be done on the 
first day of the week and no other, as if no other time 
would do so well as that, or was so proper a season for 
such a work. He notices also, that he had given the same 
order to other churches, especially to the churches in Gala- 
tia, though divided by the sea, and lying at a great distance 
from Corinth. Thus the Lord's day was generally ac- 
knowledged. It was celebrated by Christians, we see, be- 
fore the New Testament was written, and is referred to in 
the books of it as already established. Indeed the obedi- 
ence to the gospel, and to its ordinances, began first upon 
the authority which the apostles received from Christ, and 
the plenary inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Thus the 
churches were formed, and the doctrine and sacraments ad- 
mitted. And thus also the Lord's day was sanctified, as 
appears from the casual references made in the history and 
epistles of their founders. 

But we go on. At the close of the first century, and 
after an interval of thirty or forty years from the time 
when the above passages were written, the words of our 
text were uttered by the beloved apostle — the father and 
sole survivor of the apostolic college, in his extreme old 
age, and when about to record the revelations made to him 
by the Spirit. This brings down the direct scriptural evi- 
dence to the close of the first century. J "I was in the 
spirit on the lord's day," is the brief and pregnant 
expression. He merely denotes in this way the time when 
the revelations of the Spirit were made to him, by the 
mention of a day, the appellation of which was well known 
throughout the Christian churches. It is no new appella- 
tion, or he would not thus incidentally have introduced it. 
A new name would have created surprise, not communicat- 
ed information. By the Lord's day was undoubtedly meant 

* 1 Cor. xvi. 1,2. t About a. d. 96. 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 133 

the first day of the week, for we find no footsteps of any 
distinction of days which could entitle any other to that 
appellation.* Now, if this be so; if sixty or seventy years 
after the resurrection, and when the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem had made way for the full developement of the gospel, 
the first day of the week is called the lord's day, even 
as St. Paul calls the Eucharist the lord's supper — if 
the one be the memorial of the Lord's resurrection, as the 
other is of his death and passion, — then we have the most 
satisfactory evidence of the apostolic usage, and therefore 
of the divine authority of the change of the Jewish into 
the Christian Sabbath. 

4. But the events of god's wonderful providence, 
which swept away the Jewish polity and Sabbath, com- 
pleted the change which had thus gradually been introduced, 
and had spread so widely. To avoid needlessly exasperat- 
1 ing the prejudices of the Jewish converts, and the malice 
of the great body of that nation, the transfer of the day 
of the Sabbath was made for a long time silently and grad- 
ually. Our Lord lays the foundation of the change in his 
example, and in the choice of the day for conferring the 
great gift of the New Testament. The apostles follow 
his example; and, as we have seen, the practice had be- 
come general within thirty years from the crucifixion. But 
we have no express prohibition of the Jewish, nor injunc- 
tion of the Christian Sabbath. It was a matter subordi- 
nate, and was now to make its way by the force of circum- 
stances and the tacit influence of the apostle's doctrine. 
On the question of the Jewish ceremonies indeed contro- 
versy arose — circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses 
were made the occasion of supplanting the great doctrine 
of justification. But where no dispute arose — where all 
observed one day in seven for religious rest — where no 
yoke was attempted to be imposed on the Gentiles, the 
apostles were "gentle as a nurse cherisheth her own chil- 
dren." The Jewish converts were allowed to observe the 
Mosaic Sabbath. The Gentiles, who had previously cele- 
brated their pagan festivals, renounced these on their con- 
version, for the holy rest of the Lord's day. They spon- 
taneously kept the Christian Sabbath as a natural duty, a 

*Paley. 

12 



134 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

branch of the moral law, an effect of that most general 
commandment, "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart" — and an injunction expressly given in the fourth 
commandment. The Jewish converts still observed their 
own Sabbath; but then they yielded without objection to 
the apostolic example and authority, in joining the Gentile 
converts in celebrating the day of their Lord's resurrection. 

They were circumcised; but they were also willingly 
baptized. They celebrated the passover; but they willingly 
added the Lord's Supper. They worshipped in the temples 
and the synagogues; but they assembled also in the Chris- 
tian churches. So long as the Jewish services were neither 
attacked nor neglected, they made no objection to that of 
the Christian church. Thus the new ordinances grew into 
use, veneration, habit. When the apostles declared in the 
Epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews, that the Jewish 
covenant was ready to vanish away, and that no reliance 
whatever upon its ceremonies was to interfere with a sim- 
ple faith in Christ for justification, the minds of the Jewish 
believers were prepared to submit. Thus things continued 
for nearly forty years after the resurrection. 

The destruction of Jerusalem takes place. The Jewish 
polity is dissolved. The temple is left without one stone 
upon another. The Jewish priesthood, altars, sacrifices, 
covenant, Sabbath, all disappear. The Lord's day be- 
comes the day of religious rest. No controversy arises. 
The seventh-day Sabbath dies without a struggle, by the 
force of circumstances directed by an unfailing providence. 
What wisdom and consideration, then, appears in the con- 
duct of the apostles! As the whole church of Jewish and 
Christian converts agreed in one grand moral duty, the 
consecration of a day of rest to God, and as the stream of 
events was about to carry away the whole Jewish economy, 
the apostles left matters to work. They laid down the 
general truth of the non-obligation of the Mosaical law — 
they consecrated by their example, the change of the day 
of the Sabbath; but they awakened no unnecessary preju- 
dices. They cheerfully met the Jewish assemblies on the 
seventh day, for the purpose of preaching the gospel to 
them. They issued no public decree. A non-essential 
matter, they were assured, would find its level. How 
great would have been the consternation of the Jewish be- 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAT. 135 

lievers, if their Sabbath, their golden day, the first of their 
commandments, the badge of their nation, the glory of their 
state as a church, had been openly impugned! Nor could 
the apostles have abolished it^ so far as it was a political 
ordinance, and interwoven with the civil policy of the Jew- 
ish people. They waited therefore. They left the Jewish 
Sabbath gradually to expire, and the Christian to succeed, 
without any express command, or any attempt at a violent 
and sudden transfer. 

After the destruction of Jerusalem, the case became dif- 
ferent. The time of concession was over. Moses had 
vanished away. The Jewish church was no longer the 
church of God. The dispersed Jews were under the judi- 
cial blindness which the rejection of their Messiah had 
brought upon them. Their hatred of Christianity was in- 
furiate. Christians then must now openly separate from 
the communion of a repudiated church. The Jewish Sab- 
bath, the most visible character of their worship, must now 
openly give place to the Lord's day. The consecration of 
that day is now a necessary protest against Judaism, even 
as the Jewish Sabbath had been against idolatry. Chris- 
• tians unite the two. Their Lord's day is an open protest 
against atheism and idolatry on the one hand, and Judaism 
and superstition on the other. By it they publicly profess 
their belief in the three grand articles of the creed — "In 
God the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth," 
who first instituted at the creation a weekly rest after six 
days' labor — "And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord," 
who rose on this day, and drew to it the season of sacred 
joy — and in "the Holy Ghost," who descended on the 
same day to found the church and to qualify the apostles, 
and who is its abiding comforter and guide. 

And thus the Lord's day is gradually but firmly and 
completely established, by exactly that kind of evidence 
which the nature of the case demanded, and the wisdom 
of God saw to be best. Its authority is divine, because 
the example of the Lord of the Sabbath, and of his apostles, 
inspired to found his church, is a divine authority for any 
change; especially for one immaterial in itself, and entirely 
consistent with the fundamental law of the institution. 

5. But it may naturally be asked, what say ecclesi- 
astical historians — what the apostolic Fathers? — Do 



136 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

they bear witness to the observation of the first day of the 
week? Do they ascribe to the command of Christ and the 
inspired founders of their churches, the transfer of the day 
of rest from the last to the first of the week? To this we 
reply, that there is no one fact upon which all testimony 
more completely agrees than this. "I should hold it too 
long," says Bishop Andrews, to "cite them in particular; 
1 avow it on my credit, that there is not an ecclesiastical 
writer in whom it is not to be found.." # 

Ignatius, a companion of the apostle, says, "Let us no 
more sabbatize, but let us keep the Lord's day, on which 
our life arose." 

Justin Martyr, at the close of the first, and the begin- 
ning of the second century tells us, "On the day called 
Sunday is an assembly of all who live in the city or coun- 
try, and the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the 
prophets are read." And he adds, that "it was the day 
on which the creation of the world began, and on which 
Christ arose from the dead." 

Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, who had been the disci- 
ple of St. John himself, says, "On the Lord's day every 
one of us Christians keeps the Sabbath, meditating on the 
law, and rejoicing in the works of God." 

Tertullian, at the close of the second century, asserts it 
to be "the holy day of the Christian church assemblies^ 
and holy worship" — that "every eighth day is the Chris* 
tian's festival" — "kept as a day of rejoicing." 

Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, in the time of Irenaeus, 
says, in his second letter to the church of Rome, "To-day 
we celebrate the Lord's day, when we read your epistle 
to us." 

St. Ambrose observes, "the Lord's day was sacred or 
consecrated by the resurrection of Christ." 

The council of Laodicea, about the year 363, forbad 
Christians to rest from labor on the seventh day, "for 
Christians ought not to rest on the Sabbath, that is, the 
seventh day, but preferring the Lord's day to rest as 
Christians, if indeed it is in their power." 

St. Augustine tells us, that "the Lord's day was by the 
resurrection of Christ declared to Christians, and from that 

* Bishop Andrews on the ten commandments— a work of incompara- 
ble value—from which, and Baxter and Dwight ? I collect my testimonies , 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY 137 

very time it began to be celebrated as the Christian's fes- 
tival." 

Epiphanius, in his sermon upon the day of Christ's res- 
urrection, has this expression, "This is the day which God 
blessed and sanctified, because in it he ceased from all his 
labors which he had perfectly accomplished, the salvation 
both of those on earth and those under the earth." 

Athanasius says, "The Lord transferred the Sabbath to 
the Lord's day." The Emperor Constantine, as soon as 
he embraced the Christian faith, made a law to exempt the 
Lord's day from being Juridical. 

And finally, Leo, (A. D. 469) thus expresses the senti- 
ments of the whole Christian church: We ordain according 
to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost, and of the apostles 
thereby directed, that on the sacred day wherein our own in- 
tegrity was restored, all do rest and cease from labor; that 
neither husbandmen nor other on that day, put their hand 
to forbidden work. For if the Jews did so much reverence 
their Sabbaths, which were but a shadow of ours, are not 
we which inhabit the light and truth of grace, bound to 
honor that day which the Lord himself hath honored, and 
hath therein delivered us from dishonor and from death? 
Are we not bound to keep it singular and inviolable, well 
contenting ourselves with so liberal a grant of the rest, and 
not encroaching upon that one day which God hath chosen 
to his own honor? Were it not reckless neglect of religion 
to make that very day common, and to think we may do 
with it as with the rest?* 

Thus decisive is the testimony to the fact, that the 
Lord's day was considered by the primitive church to be 
appointed by the divine authority of the apostles, the espe- 
cial delegates and ambassadors of Christ, armed with his 
commission, and inspired with his spirit. 

It deserves remark, that the brief description which 
Pliny, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, gives of the Chris- 
tian worship, entirely accords with our general testimony: 
"They are accustomed to meet on a stated day before light, 
and to sing amongst themselves hymns to Christ, as to a 
God." Indeed, the celebration of the Lord's day was so 
notorious even to the Heathens themselves, that it was 
ever a question of theirs to the martyrs, "Dominicum ser- 

* Hooker. 

*12 



1 38 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

vasti?" "Do you keep Sunday?" And their answer was 
equally well known; they all aver it: "I am a Christian; 
I cannot omit it." 

6. And why should I detain you longer? Why should 
1 do more than notice that perpetual blessing which 
has attended the christian sabbath, and which at- 
tends it now? Why should I call to your memory all the 
conversions which have crowned the Lord ? s day during 
eighteen centuries, in every part of the world? The whole 
church has been built up upon this divinely transferred sea- 
son — the whole church has been enlarged, comforted, sanc- 
tified on it. If the primitive Christians were mistaken in 
supposing the change from the seventh to the first day of the 
week to have been of apostolic authority, then God has 
permitted this mistake to be confirmed, and to take root, 
by his especial blessing, and the continued operations of 
his grace, during the whole period of the Christian church. 
But the idea is too absurd. For when we consider the 
comparative non-importance in itself, of the particular day 
in the week on which we keep the Sabbath, supposing the 
portion of time which the eternal rule of the fourth com- 
mandment requires, is preserved; and when we reflect on 
all the preparatory circumstances which laid a probable 
ground for the change; and when to these we add the grad- 
ual but decisive manner in which that change was intro- 
duced, sustained by the events of God's awful providence 
in the destruction of the Jewish polity and Sabbath, and 
testified by the united voice of all ecclesiastical antiquity; 
we have a mass of evidence to the divine authority of our 
Christian Sabbath, sufficient to satisfy every candid mind. 
The blessing of God, therefore, which has actually at- 
tended, and is actually attending, in such large and 
perpetual operations of grace, the Lord's day, is in full 
accordance with every other species of proof, and crowns 
the whole argument. 

The change, indeed, after all, amounts only to this. Un- 
der the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations, the Sabbath 
was considered as following the other days. Under the 
Christian it precedes. Under the former economies, cre- 
ation and the redemption from Egypt were the greatest ben- 
efits conferred upon man. Under the Christian, the spir- 
itual redemption — the resurrection of Christ — the new 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 139 

creation of the world. The Sabbath, therefore, waited a 
day for the triumph of its divine Lord, and then took the 
precedence, and led on the other days. In all these dis- 
pensations, the proportion of time dedicated to the imme- 
diate service of God, in which the substance of the com- 
mand lay, remained the same, as well as the anticipation 
and pledge of that rest in heaven in which our Sabbaths 
are to terminate. 

And thus all the obligations that can combine to enforce 
a moral command on man, have been found to unite in the 
case of the Christian Sabbath. The argument has gone 
on accumulating through each part of our progress. The 
objections have not only been overcome, but turned into 
additional confirmations. We have seen that from the cre- 
ation to the rest of eternity, a day of weekly repose and 
religious worship has been appointed for man. We have 
seen the six days' work laid out, and the seventh day's 
refreshment enforced by the Almighty; first in his own ex- 
ample, and then by his command. We have discovered 
the traces of this most ancient of institutions during the 
patriarchal ages. After the redemption from Egypt we 
perceived its re-enactment before the law of ceremonies: 
and its insertion in the moral law, in common with the 
other primary duties of a responsible creature. It enters 
the Mosaical economy, not as belonging to it, but as spring- 
ing, with many other ordinances, from the patriarchal 
church. As it preceded the existence of the ceremonial 
dispensation, so it survived its extinction. Even during its 
passage through the parenthetical and temporary economy, 
we saw how it lifted up itself on high, above all mere figures 
and ceremonies. The Savior appears and reverences, hon- 
ors, distinguishes the Sabbath by his doctrine and his mir- 
acles. The ten commandments he recognizes without omis- 
sion or alteration. As the Jews had fallen into various 
superstitions contrary to the true import of the law of the 
Sabbath, he sweeps away these austerities, and leaves it 
in its genuine simplicity and grace — as being "made for 
man, and not man for it." He intimates, also, a change 
to be made in its observance, and claims to be its ruler, 
sovereign, and Lord. The particular day not being of the 
essence of the law, it is silently introduced. The very na- 
ture of the gospel as an universal religion might seem to 



140 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

lead to it. The Lord of the Sabbath, he that was great- 
er than the temple, he that wrought in the works of the 
new creation as Almighty God had in those of the old, 
laid the grounds for the change before his passion. After 
his resurrection he established the first day's rest by his 
gracious appearance on that day, and his mission of the 
Holy Ghost. The apostles follow their Master's exam- 
ple — they declare in their epistles the Mosaical law abol- 
ished. They tolerate indeed, till the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, those who from prejudices and misapprehensions 
kept the Jewish Sabbath, and they attend the synagogues 
in order to meet the Jews and proclaim the gospel, but 
they themselves honor the Christian Sabbath; and, after 
the abolition of the Mosaical polity and state, they leave 
it as the badge of our faith in Christ, as our protest 
against Judaism, as our season of Paradisaical and Patri- 
archal repose transferred to the day of the gospel; as our 
pledge and anticipation of the rest and salvation of heaven 
— and they charge the universal church to celebrate on that 
day, not only the glories of creation, the blessings of re- 
demption, and the hopes of a heavenly felicity, but the tri- 
umph of the Redeemer, in which they centre, and by which 
they are secured. 

Let us then, in conclusion — I. Adore in solemn acts of 
thanksgiving and praise, the wisdom and goodness 
of that God, who, seeing the end from the beginning, 
thus laid out the bountiful provision for man's religious re- 
pose in his first creation, carried it through all the dis- 
pensations of his mercy, and revived it with so many ad- 
vantages in the Christian church! Yes; we magnify thy 
counsels of grace, Thou only wise God; we see something 
of that manifold and varied wisdom and prudence, with 
which thou hast abounded towards us. We glorify thy 
name not only for the revelation of thy grace in Christ 
Jesus, and for all the dispensations of it since the world 
began, but for that attendant ordinance which gives us time 
to meditate upon them, and to repose in Thee our great 
and final end. We discern the footsteps of an infinite 
wisdom, in the magnitude and boldness of that record of 
the institution of a Sabbath, which the six days' work 
exhibited; and which is large and clear enough to catch 
every eye, to penetrate every conscience, to decide every 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 141 

honest doubt. We adore Thee yet more, for that regard 
to human infirmity, which led thee to insert this command 
in the moral law, and thus bind it upon the hearts of the 
whole human race, in common with their other most indis- 
pensable duties. And in thy gospel, thy wisdom still strikes 
our view with brighter splendor, in the gracious explications 
of thy law, uttered by the lips of our Redeemer, and in 
the gradual and silent introduction of the change of the 
day of its observance made by thy apostles. O, teach us 
to adore thee, in this thy appointment! Let us believe, 
that every degree of evidence of the divine origin and per- 
manent obligation of thy day, which is good for us in this 
imperfect state of trial, has been granted; that more evi- 
dence would probably have been unnecessary and injurious; 
and do thou cause us to acquiesce in thy mode of revealing 
this day of rest, in thy manner of transferring it to the day 
of the glorious resurrection of our Lord, and in the motives 
which thou hast accumulated, to urge us to sanctify it 
aright ! 

II. But let us notice as a further thought by way of 
application, that the changes in the circumstances of the 
law of the Sabbath have sprung up from new bene- 
fits conferred on man, and should increase his sense 
of obligation and gratitude. Every change is a fresh bless- 
ing. Every new dispensation is a new grace. Every al- 
teration is an advance in the developement of redemption 
on the one hand, and in the uses and importance of the in- 
stitution on the ether. The various modes in which the 
Sabbath has been presented to man, have not been isolat- 
ed, much less arbitrary enactments, but economies of mercy, 
divisions in the grand progress of man's salvation by Jesus 
Christ, new pledges of "the rest remaining for the people of 
God." Every re-enactment, then, has brought with it new 
bonds, new obligations, new attractions, towards the spir- 
itual observation of the sacred season. Creation poured 
its first benefits upon man, the offspring of his God, and 
bound upon him the day of rest, by all the ties of grati- 
tude to an all-bountiful Lord. The separation of a partic- 
ular family, to be the repository of truth, and the confes- 
sors of the one living God, amidst surrounding idolatry, 
brought with it new calls to duty, new reasons of religious 
worship and praise. The covenant of Abraham, the promise 



142 SABBATH TRANSFERRED FROM THE 

of "the seed in whom all the families of the earth should 
be blessed,' 5 the imputation of faith to him for righteous- 
ness, augmented the obligations of sacrifice, of circumci- 
sion, and especially of the Sabbath. The establishment of 
the Mosaic dispensation on the footing of the redemption 
of Egypt, and with the promise of the rest in Canaan, plac- 
ed the Sabbath in yet a new and more inviting light, shed 
upon it richer grace, made it the commemoration of mightier 
blessings. The promulgation of the moral law, as con- 
nected with the dispensation of Moses, and subservient to 
the promises of grace typified in that dispensation, was an 
inconceivable favor to a wandering, and yet responsible 
creature, uncertain of his duties, surrounded with tempta- 
tion, lost amidst the corruption and darkness of the world. 
Every hymn of the royal Psalmist, every prediction of the 
inspired prophets, augmented the materials of sabbath- 
praise and meditation, and increased the duty of making 
such a return of gratitude to God. At last, Messiah ap- 
pears. Blessed Immanuel, we hail thy birth! Thou art 
the King, and Priest, and Prophet of an universal dispensa- 
tion. Thy infinite benefits bind us to thyself. "Whether 
we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do every 
thing to thy glory." All thy mercies flow together into 
this thy day, which thou hast transferred to be the trophy 
of thy resurrection. This is the field where all thy bless- 
ings flourish; this the scene where all thy operations of 
grace are carried on; this the season when all thy praises 
are set forth. 

Yes, my brethren, it is to this Savior's love that we owe 
our Christian Sabbath; it is by this Savior's death and 
passion, that its duties are bound upon us; it is by this 
Savior's Spirit, that its consolations are poured into our 
hearts. 

And mark, I entreat you, that in proportion as the 

BENEFITS, AND LIBERTY, AND SPIRITUAL CHARACTER 
OF THE GOSPEL ARE MORE EXALTED, SO should Our hearts 

catch the intimations of our Lord's will with more alacrity, 
and fulfil them with warmer delight. He re-enacts not in 
direct terms his day of rest, because all the previous publi- 
cations of it will act with a thousandfold more force upon 
the mind of his true people. He leaves it to be inferred 
from his own example and doctrine, and that of his apos- 



SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY. 143 

ties; because under his gospel the love of his person, name, 
worship, will be a spontaneous and overflowing principle, dic- 
tated by his Spirit bursting forth from every heart which is 
touched with the benefits of redemption, and constituting 
the very badge and characteristic of his kingdom. 

Here then, we close the first division of our series of dis- 
courses — the Divine Authority and Obligation of a weekly 
day of rest in God, is under all dispensations the same; 
but under the gospel shines forth with the concentrated light 
of each preceding period; and is clothed with all the ad- 
ditional majesty which infinite grace and love throw around 
it Every thing illustrates the duty, and exalts the priv- 
ilege of that institution, which before the fall was needful 
to man; but which, in his corrupted and sinful state, is the 
grand means of preserving religion in the world; the noblest 
rite of the Christian faith; the substratum and ground-work 
on which are erected all the means of grace, and all the 
hopes of glory. 

And let it be remembered, that the objections raised 
against the several branches of our great argument, having 
been satisfactorily answered, they should no longer be al- 
lowed to harass our minds, or weaken our faith, or contract 
our obedience. The full authority of the divine 
institution should be admitted; and our efforts turned 
to those practical questions, which will be the subject of 
, the remaining division of our discourses. 



SEf&MOJST V. 



THE PRACTICAL DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH, 



Ezekiel xx. 12. 

Moreover also, I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign be- 
tween me and them, that they might know that I am 
the Lord that sanctify them. 

The divine authority and perpetual obligation of a day of 
holy rest and religious worship, have been abundantly 
proved. Every thing conspires to impress us with its su- 
preme importance to man in all ages, and under all dispen- 
sations. Such is its antiquity, that it was instituted in 
Paradise. Such its essential moral nature, that it was in- 
serted in the Ten Commandments. Its dignity is so great, 
that it lifts its head high above the ceremonies of Moses, 
whilst under that economy. Such is its spirituality, that 
the holy prophets and reformers insist upon it, as a point of 
fundamental duty, and as about to form a part of the gos- 
pel kingdom. Its perpetual force and native majesty, are 
so distinguished, that our Lord, after explaining what the 
comments of the Jewish doctors had obscured, leaves it in 
more than its original glory; transfers the day of its cele- 
bration to that of his resurrection, and erects it into a 
trophy of his victory. Such, in a word, is its paramount 
authority upon the human conscience, that the Christian 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 145 

church in every age, including the Apostolical, has confess- 
ed its claims, and made it the occasion of their delight and 

It is in truth, "a sign of the covenant" between God and 
man; a badge of our Christian profession; the acknowledg- 
ment we publicly make of the God who created, and the 
Savior who redeemed us; a chief means of that dedication 
and sanctification of man to his Almighty Lord, which 
creation and redemption are designed to produce. 

And this leads us to the second, and practical division 
of our whole subject. How is this holy day to be observed 
under the Gospel ? — What is the importance of observing 
it, and the evils of the opposite neglect ?* What is the 
necessity of personal and national repentance for our viola- 
tion of it?| — Grave questions these, and demanding all 
our attention. For why the accumulated proofs of the in- 
stitution, stretching from the creation of man to the rest of 
heaven, but to enforce its practical duties? And what is 
the true source of almost all the objections to its divine 
authority, but the dislike which fallen man has to its spir- 
itual worship, and holy demands? Let the rest be ad- 
mitted to be external and civil merely — let the public du- 
ties of the worship of God be confined to a brief and cur- 
sory service — let the private hours of the Sabbath be spent 
in worldly, or intellectual, or festive indulger -and all 
objections to its authority would cease. But if we main- 
tain, that the great end of the appointment is to be a sign 
of God's covenant, and a means of sanctifi . ion — if we 
maintain the duties of it to extend to all classes of persons, 
and during the whole of the sacred day — if we maintain 
that the spirit in which these are to be performed is the 
filial temper of joy and delight in God — if we maintain 
that the mighty blessings, which are to be especially com- 
memorated are no other than creation, redemption, heaven 
— if, in a word, we show that the Sabbath, practically 
considered, is Christianity embodied — revelation set forth 
visibly in its simple and majestic features — the sign and 
representation of the covenant of grace, — the means of 
sanctincation exhibited and set before our eyes, — then the 
corrupt reason and perverted affections of man unite to in- 

* Sermon VI. t Sermon VII. 

13 



146 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

vent objections to its authority, that they may escape its 
unwelcome bonds. 

These, then, are the very points which in the present 
discourse we shall endeavor to illustrate: the great end 
of the institution — its public and private duties — the 
spirit and temper which it cherishes — the especial 
blessings which it commemorates. 

And here let two remarks be premised. We enforce 
not the duties of the Jewish, but of the Christian Sabbath. 
The ceremonial and civil appendages of the Mosaic law, 
the spirit of bondage, the terrors of Mount Sinai, are 
passed. It is the gospel in all its grace and loveliness 
which we maintain — that mild and merciful institution, 
cleared from the traditionary yoke of the Jewish masters, 
which our Lord confirmed as the boon and gift originally 
granted to man. Every thing in the Christian Sabbath is 
tender, and considerate on the one hand, every thing is 
spiritual and elevated on the other; and is, in both views 
adapted and suited to the real state and exigencies of our 
nature, under the last and most perfect dispensation of re- 
ligion. 

But then the determination of what is really spiritual, of. 
what is really for the welfare of man, of what are the real 
duties and employments of the day, must be taken from the 
Scriptures themselves, and not from the opinions, much less 
from the inclinations and fashions, of a corrupt world. We 
must rise to the standard of the Sabbath as set forth in the 
Bible, not sink the Bible to the level of our wayward pas- 
sions. This is the second remark. The doctrine of the 
institution, like the counsel of a skilful physician, is designed 
to produce a cure of our moral maladies by wholesome medi- 
cines, not to foment the disease by cordials, or hide its 
worst symptoms by opiates and palliatives. 

And do Thou, Almighty God and Father, who madest 
the Sabbath for man, assist us to rise up to its true de- 
mands! May thy Spirit teach us what thy revelation 
really imports, and what the day which Thou callest thine 
own, is designed to become! That, knowing our own mis- 
ery, and receiving with humble faith the redemption of thy 
Son, we may delight in the services of that season which 
is one chief means of communicating the blessings procured 
by it to our souls! 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 147 

In considering, then, the practical duties of the Lord's 
day, we must, 

I. Keep ever in view the great end of the insti- 
tution — which is to be a visible sign of the covenant be- 
tween God and us, and a principal means of that sanctifi- 
cation which it is one object of that covenant to produce. 

For it is not merely in the words of the text that this 
express end is assigned to it; almost a thousand years be- 
fore, the Lord had declared by Moses, "Verily my Sab- 
baths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you 
throughout your generations, that ye may know that I 
am the Lord that doth sanctify you."* Thus we learn 
that this is an essential design of the institution. It re- 
ceived, indeed, especial sanctions, and was connected with 
particular observances, during the continuance of the na- 
tional covenant with the people of Israel. But, as in 
sanctification the whole human race are interested, the 
Sabbath becomes a sign to every nation in every age, 
where Revelation with its weekly rest reaches. It is ac- 
cordingly immediately connected in the passage above cited 
with the original appointment in paradise: "Six days may 
work be done; but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, 
holy to the Lord — for in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was re- 
freshed."* And so Moses, after reciting the decalogue, 
and the two commands which form the summary of it, pro- 
nounced in another place, "Thou shalt bind them for a 
sign upon thine hand. "J 

The holy day of rest is, then, to be regarded as the 
sign, badge, or profession of the God whom we serve, and 
of the covenant of his grace, of which we profess to be 
members. We testify our allegiance to the Lord who rose 
again from the dead "through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant." The Sabbath, interrupting our secular pur- 
suits, and calling us off to the spiritual duties of religion, 
is a symbol whereby we declare what God it is we worship, 
acknowledge that the Lord revealed in the Bible is our God 
and no other; proclaim ourselves the vassals and servants 
of that only God who created the heavens and the earth 
in six days and rested the seventh, and commanded us to 

* Exodus xxxi. 13. f Ver. 15 & 17. f Deut. vi. 8. 



148 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

observe this suitable distribution of time as a badge and 
livery that we worship him alone.* And we keep it under 
the gospel on the Lord's day, to avow our belief that on the 
morning of that day, the first of the week, redemption, 
like a second creation, was accomplished, our Lord rose 
from the dead, and ceased from his work, and rested and 
was refreshed; and that we are the servants and worship- 
pers of that adorable Savior. Thus the covenant of grace 
in Christ Jesus is set forth in our Christian celebration of 
this festival. We are not Jews but Christians; and 
wherever the religion of Christ is estabKshed, the symbol 
and cognizance of the Resurrection comes with it. 

And this not for the mere avowal of our allegiance^ or the 
manifestation of the attributes and glory of our Creator and 
Redeemer, but also for the purpose of promoting that 
sanctification which it is the end of the covenant to 
produce. The expression of the text and of the similar 
passage just cited, is most remarkable, "Moreover, I gave 
them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, 
that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify 
them." What an exalted end and design of the institu- 
tion! Sanctification is the work of God's Holy Spirit by 
his secret but effectual influences upon the heart, separat- 
ing man from the love and service of sin, and turning him 
to God and holiness. The idea is that of setting apart, 
separating, consecrating for certain holy purposes. Thus, 
when applied to sacred persons, times, services, garments, 
buildings, it imports the separation of them from profane 
uses, and the dedication of them to the honor of God. So 
the Sabbath was in Paradise sanctified by the Almighty, 
that is, separated from ordinary employments, and set 
apart for the service and worship of God. And how im- 
portant is the thought, that the design of the Almighty in 
sanctifying and hallowing a day of Sabbath, was, that 
man, his moral and accountable creature, might be sancti- 
fied and dedicated by means of it — that the external con- 
secration of the season ends in the internal consecration of 
the heart of man to his Creator and Redeemer! 

All the designs of the institution terminate here. The 
Sabbath, was made, granted, vouchsafed to man, as tb& 

* J. Mede. 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 



149 



piJucipal season when all the means of sanctification should 
have their effect — when man's immortal nature should be 
restored to its true elevation — when his spiritual and ac- 
countable powers should be especially exercised — when his 
relation to God, his dependance upon him, his obligations, 
his gratitude and love, his offerings of praise, his prayers 
and aspirations for future blessings, should be declared and 
presented. 

To rise up to the dignity of the Sabbath, and perform 
any of its duties aright, we must understand what sanctifi- 
cation is, who the great God is to whose service we are to 
be devoted, what that Creator and Redeemer claims of us 
who on this day rose from the dead, what are the terms of 
that covenant of which he is the Mediator and Lord. 

Even before the fall, man in paradise, as we have said, 
needed a Sabbath, a day of religion; and for the like ends 
— to be a sign between God and him — to be a means of 
exercising and carrying on that sanctification, the principles 
and habits of which he already possessed. He was per- 
mitted to cease, he was commanded to cease, one day in 
seven from the gentle toil of dressing the garden of Eden, 
that he might devote the time more immediately to his 
Almighty Creator — to his glory — to the meditation on his 
perfections and works — to the duties of holy worship and 
praise — that thus the sanctification of all his powers to his 
service might be confirmed and heightened. 

How much more, then, must man since the fall need this 
holy day, both as a sign of the covenant and a means of 
sanctification. He has now not merely to carry on and 
strengthen habits of holiness, like his first parent, but to 
acquire them. The covenant, as it respects him, is not a 
covenant of creation, but of restoration; not of works, but 
of grace; not to show his obedience by observing a law to 
which his will is already conformed, but to obtain redemp- 
tion by believing in the divine Mediator of a new and bet- 
ter covenant. Sanctification as to man since the fall, is 
the recovery of the soul to the lost image of God, the illu- 
mination of a darkened understanding, giving a right direc- 
tion to the will, changing the whole bias and course of his 
affections and conduct, bringing him back to God, his great 
end, and preparing him for the enjoyment of God, his ulti- 
mate felicity. 

*13 



150 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

And this answers the objection which is sometimes ab- 
surdly or ignorantly made, "That under the gospel every 
day is a Sabbath — all we do is to be done to the glory of 
God — a spiritual and perfect dispensation claims all we 
have and are." And yet in paradise, where man walked 
before God in his original uprightness, he was called on to 
keep a Sabbath. How idle then is the plea, now that 
man is fallen. Those who urge it, know little of the na- 
ture of true sanctification, and of the difficulties under which 
it is attained in this world of conflict. Even if entire holi- 
ness could be reached in this imperfect state, a day of rest 
would be indispensable for the honor of God's name, for the 
more immediate duties of public and private devotion, and 
for carrying out into full exercise the principles of holiness. 
But it is folly, it is presumption to talk thus, whilst man in 
his best attainments is full of defects and errors, full of 
corrupt tendencies — -needs a day of sanctification to remind 
him of his dangers, to bring him out from the snares of life, 
to lift his heart more entirely towards heaven. Those who 
talk of every day being a Sabbath, mean in fact that no 
day should be such. Besides, the expression "keeping holy,' 5 
as it applies to the ordinary days of the week, and as it 
fixes itself on the day of God, has a different force and ap- 
plication. To keep holy the six days of the week, means 
only that we intermingle family and private devotions with 
our lawful labor and work on those days-— that we direct 
our secular calling to God's glory — that we implore his 
blessing upon ail our occupations. But "to keep holy" the 
seventh day is to suspend those occupations, to forbear all 
our ordinary works, to renounce all our secular business, and 
to devote all the hours of the day to the immediate care of 
our souls, and the immediate worship of God. We are as 
much called to work the six days, as we are to rest on the 
seventh. 

This is, then, the first practical duty of the Lord's day, 
to keep ever in view its great end. The sanctification of 
it begins, as to us, when our dedication to God begins. We 
hallow the Sabbath when we ourselves are hallowed to God. 
We awake to the true importance of the institution, when 
we feel our fallen and sinful state, when we receive the cov- 
enant of grace as proposed in the gospel, when we seek to 
be sanctified, body, soul and spirit, to be the Lord's. A 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 151 

divine life infused into the soul of man — a perception of the 
nature and excellency of spiritual things — a view of the 
glory and majesty of the great Redeemer — a reliance upon 
his death and resurrection — a dependance upon the influ- 
ence of his Holy Spirit, — these bring the Sabbath and the 
human heart together. The Sabbath is born to man when 
he is born to God. Then it recals, revives, strengthens, 
all the principles of sanctification. Then it not only gives 
him the time, and affords him the means, and calls him to 
the duties of sanctification; but it leads him to employ all 
these to their proper end. And thus the Lord is pleased 
to sanctify man; thus the day is a sign between him and 
us; thus the final ends of all religion are advanced. 

And here lies the fundamental defect in so many of our 
cases — we do not feel the unspeakable importance of holi- 
ness — we do not desire sanctification — we stop in the ex- 
ternal and official parts of the sabbatical institution: we 
have lost the due sense of what consecration of heart 
to God means, and therefore of what we should aim at 
on the day with which it is connected. 

Consider, then, I entreat you, my dear brethren, the 
only manner in which you can enter on the practical duties 
of the Lord's day aright. Examine your state before God, 
Have you any desire to be made holy, to be pardoned, to 
be separated from sin, to be dedicated to God? Do you 
wish really to know the demands which Christianity makes 
upon you? Do you seek earnestly the way of salvation? — 
Behold, then, what you want. There is the day when all 
this is to be learned. There is the covenant of which that 
day is a sign. There is the sanctification which all the 
ordinances and exercises of that day are calculated to pro- 
duce. Implore, then, the grace of the Holy Spirit to af- 
fect your heart seriously with these truths, and thus will all 
the other directions we may offer fall into their due place. 
For sanctification being proposed as the great end of the 
Sabbath, 

II. The public and private duties of it will fol- 
low most naturally. 

These will demand of us less time, because the main 
design being comprehended and felt, the details of particu- 
lar rules will be easy; and yet we must not omit them. 
They relate to the public worship of the Almighty; the 



152 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

care of our family; our personal and private communion 
with God; a due attention to all dependant on us, extend- 
ing even to our cattle; together with such necessary offices 
of charity as arise in the course of the sacred duties of the 
day. 

1. The public exercises of God's worship and 
the fellowship of Christians with each other in common 
acts of prayer and praise, are the leading business of this 
holy season. The rest from temporal employments is in 
order to perform the solemn services of the sanctuary in 
the first place. A holy convocation was a part of the sab- 
batical worship under the law. The psalmist, and the 
prophets after him, dwell much upon the public ordinances, 
the temple, the house of prayer, the courts of the Lord's 
house. The first mention of our Lord's conduct on the 
Sabbath, is that his custom was to attend the synagogue. 

He appeared to his disciples, also, more than once, on 
the first day of the week, after his resurrection, and chang- 
ed the day of rest to honor this event. It was on the first 
day of the week, again, that the apostles met the Chris- 
tian churches, and preached the gospel to them, and cele- 
brated "the breaking of bread," as the Eucharist is some- 
times called. The precept "not to forsake the assembling 
of themselves together," completes the proof and devolves 
the duty upon us. Man as a social creature, never glorifies 
God more, nor advances his own sanctification in a larger 
measure, than when he openly recognizes the Christian re- 
ligion, and honors the resurrection of its divine Founder in 
public assemblies. There the Holy Spirit loves to dwell 
— there the people unite in the confession of sin to the 
glory of God's righteousness — there they implore in com- 
mon the gift of pardon and receive its assurances — there 
they hear the word of God solemnly read — there the sac- 
raments are administered — there they pour out their litanies 
at the throne of grace — there they hear the gospel preach- 
ed and its truths applied to their hearts and consciences, — 
and there, finally, they sing the high praises of their 
Maker, Benefactor, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Such wor- 
ship resembles that of the angelic choirs of heaven. The 
six days' work and toil and temptation are forgotten — 
Christ himself is present — it is "none other than the house 
of God, it is the gate of heaven," Heaven is the place 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 153 

of the public uninterrupted worship of God. Angels and 
glorified spirits unceasingly cry "Holy, holy, holy is the 
Lord of hosts." And in nothing does the church on earth 
so nearly approach the church above, as in the harmonious 
and devout exercises of public worship. 

An early attendance — a devout interest in all the parts 
of the service — an application to our own case of the pray- 
ers, lessons, sermons — fervent gratitude in the offerings of 
praise — an edifying posture and demeanor — a candid and 
docile consideration of the doctrine delivered — these are the 
indications of the true worshipper; who confines not his 
public duties to one attendance, but rejoices twice to ap- 
pear in those "courts" where his heart wishes to "dwell." 

2. The care of our families must not, however, be 
neglected, whilst we first discharge our public duties. We 
must not leave pur children and servants to do as they 
please, but we must stop all the secular work which might 
tempt them to violate the holy day, dispose of our concerns 
with the best management, so as to admit of our household 
devoting themselves to their religious offices, and encour- 
age them to perform those offices both public and private, 
by every suitable means. And therefore the fourth com- 
mandment is a family commandment. The heads of 
families are made answerable for all who are under their 
roof. "Six days are we to labor and do," not the greatest 
part, but "all our work." There is no exception for the 
idle, the busy or the sick. But lest any should feign a 
plea, the commandment goes on and prohibits us expressly 
from doing any work. "In it thou shalt not do any work." 
And that a depraved heart, fertile in evasions, may not be 
able to suggest that children, servants, and cattle, are not 
included, each class is enumerated; "In it thou shalt not 
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy 
man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor the stranger that is 
within thy gates;" and the merciful reason is adjoined in 
the recapitulation of the law, "that thy man-servant and 
thy maid-servant may rest as well thou." The discharge 
of them from all ordinary and servile work is indispensable. 
If they serve us the six days, we are to take care that 
they serve God on the seventh. The boon and grant of 
one day's rest extends to the whole human race; and we 
must see that in our household the gift is not lost. It is 



154 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

our business to complete on the Saturday, or postpone to 
the Monday, what would intrench on the sabbath-rest. It 
is easy, it is delightful for the master of the family to do 
this. He will provide time for all his household to attend 
once, and if possible twice, the public worship. His do- 
mestic prayers will on that sacred day be extended. The 
more solemn reading and explaining of God's word, with 
prayers for a suitable state of mind for public services, will 
be the employ of the Sunday morning; and in the afternoon, 
or evening, as the case may be, he will catechise the young 
and give familiar and more detailed instruction to his ser- 
vants. The head of every family has a charge of souls, 
as it were committed to him; he is a priest in his own house. 
He has to promote the sanctification of all under his roof. 
His order, his piety, his appearance, in public church and 
in his house, surrounded with his children, and dependants, 
is an acknowledgment and badge of the God whom he 
worships. He must not, like Eli, yield, from cowardice 
and a false indulgence, to the bad habits and inclinations 
of those around him; but like Abraham, "command his 
children and his household after him;" and, like Joshua, 
resolve, "As for me and my house we will serve the 
Lord." 

3. The private and personal duties must prepare 
for, and succeed the public and domestic. For the Sab- 
bath is for the sanctification of each individual. It is a 
barrier thrown in upon the current of worldly things, be- 
hind which, each one is to collect himself and stem the 
tide, and work himself back again to his God. More de- 
pends on the intervals between the social and public ex- 
ercises of the Lord's day, than we may at first imagine. 
Fill them up with vain conversations, idle visits, worldly 
reading, carelessness, indolence, sloth, and all the fruit of 
public and domestic worship is destroyed — the taste for 
them is lost — and the form of them will not be long perse- 
vered in. But let these interstices be duly occupied with 
earnest prayer and examination of the heart, communion 
with God, meditation, intercession for children, family, 
friends, reflections on the public instruction we have receiv- 
ed, — and all will assume another complexion. In these 
secret musings, the heart is visited with grace, the sermons 
and lessons sink deep into the habit, the mind is calmed 



/ 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 155 

and tranquillized, some additional power of interior devo- 
tion is acquired. And it is for these private duties, as well 
as for the more public, that the rest of the Sabbath is given. 
They are the cement, as it were, which binds together the 
separate materials of the sacred festival, which without it, 
fall to pieces, sink into decay, and lose all their plastic en- 
ergy and force. How can we expect any breathings of 
- grace, any communion with the Father of spirits, any quick- 
ening and elevation of the heart, if we draw near to God 
merely in the outward form and mock him with a pretence 
of service, the affections being left behind? A heart un- 
prepared by private duties, is not likely to be benefited by 
public: and on the other hand, instructions and exercises 
in the house of God, not followed by secret meditation and 
prayer, are not likely to abide in the memory or influence 
the conduct. 

4. But besides our immediate family, the duties of the 
Christian Sabbath extend to our dependants — to "the 
stranger within our gates" — to all over whom we have any 
natural influence — and even to the irrational creatures who 
subserve our comfort, and whose repose is commanded both 
for their own sakes and to render more completely practi- 
cal the duty of religious rest enjoined upon man, their lord. 
These provisions breathe all the mercy of the divine law: 
the terms are remarkable — "That thy man-servant and 
thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou" — "Remember 
that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt." — "Thou 
knowest the heart of a stranger." 

How lamentably the spirit of these injunctions is violat- 
ed, is but too manifest. The shops and warehouses of too 
many witness against them. The counting-houses and offi- 
ces and counsel-rooms of too many are the destruction of 
souls. The negligence of masters as to the morals of the 
young, and their religious observance of the Sunday, merely 
on the plea that they are not domestics, will be no ade- 
quate defence at the tribunal of God. The workmen in 
manufactories are committed to the care of the persons 
whom they serve. Contrivance, management, order, are 
required of them. Influence is a talent for which an ac- 
count must be rendered another day. All nature is to be 
hushed into repose on the blessed, hallowed season of rest 
— all the confusion of the world to cease — all the pursuit 



156 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

of even lawful gain to be suspended — all the hurry of life 
to be calmed — not only the master and parent with his fam- 
ily, but the principals and conductors of professional or 
commercial concerns — the statesman in his cabinet — the 
magistrate on the bench— the merchant in his house of 
affairs — the traveller on his journey — the lawyer in his 
office — the scholar in his study, — all must be interrupted 
and called aside, to honor the day which is the sign of the 
Christian covenant, and the means of Christian sanctifica- 
tion — man and beast are to recreate their wasted powers, 
the beast in the repose of which it is capable, man in the 
dignified and rational refreshment, for which God has pecu- 
liarly qualified him. 

Works of real necessity and mercy may, indeed, be 
done on the sacred day, such as our Lord by his example 
authorised, and as the great moral ends of the institution 
persuade. We relieve the sick from present suffering, we 
satisfy the demands of hunger, we pull an ox or an ass from 
a pit, we give food to our cattle, we use the gentle labor of 
our domestic animals, so far as may be necessary for con- 
veying us and our families to the public worship of God, 
when sickness or unavoidable distance compels. But we 
may not give a wider, or more lax construction to the fourth 
commandment, than what the intention of the great Legis- 
lator imports, and our Lord has determined. Such expla- 
nation, in opposition to the decrees of the Jewish doctors, 
as he judged necessary, he gave; but in all other respects, 
left the law just as he found it. Works of necessity and 
charity must not be multiplied without just cause; much less 
must works of vanity, sloth, carelessness, be performed 
under the cloke of them. No rule can be laid down for 
others. Conscience, and a sincere desire to glorify God, 
must determine. Let the main design of the day, our 
sanctification, and the practical duties of it, as it respects 
public and private, domestic and personal devotion, be per- 
formed in subserviency thereto, and works of necessary 
charity, (for such is the more accurate bearing of our 
Lord's example,)* will not be unduly undertaken. 

And need I stop here to refute the mere evasion, which 
would allow the obligation of the Lord's day as to public 

* Dr. Humphrey's Essays, o. 43. 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 157 

worship, and deny it as to the remaining duties of the insti- 
tution? What! is it enough merely to worship God for one 
meagre hour or two, and then resign ourselves to the world 
and its cares? What! can public worship be celebrated 
with any spirituality of mind, without preparatory and sub- 
sequent meditation and prayer? What! are the family 
devotions of other days to be discontinued on the day when 
they ought to be enlarged and multiplied? What! is it the 
Sabbath morning that we are to sanctify, or the Sabbath 
evening, only, and not the Sabbath-day, — the whole 
period from the close of the last working day till the dawn 
of the next? Yes; the whole day is not too long for God, 
for Christ, for the soul: if the entire command is not com- 
plied with, none is. 

Or need I stop to enumerate those various secular works, 
which are unlawful on this day of the Lord ? Need I ex- 
pose the miserable sophistry, which substitutes a mere 
change of worldly engagements for the holy duties of divine 
prayer and praise? — What, if I close my office or my shop, 
and open my drawer of accounts, and write letters of 
affairs, am I sanctifying the Sabbath? What, if I with- 
draw from the exchange, or the courts of law, into the 
chamber of consultation, or the secret room of settlements 
and bargains, is this keeping the Lord's day? What! I 
employ not my laborers on Sunday, but I pay them their 
wages, and almost oblige them to make their purchases on 
that sacred day; and is this to keep it holy? Or, I quit the 
hurry of the city or town, for the mere sensual indulgence 
of the suburban retreat — I "eat, and drink, and am mer- 
ry;" I collect around me friends as thoughtless as myself — 
I employ my servants in the unnecessary toil of preparing 
luxurious meals — I go from the church to the ride, the gar- 
den, the park, the pleasure-ground, the river. I walk over 
ray farm or my lands, I arrange for the business of the fol- 
lowing week, I plunge into literary or scientific reading, I 
lose my devotional feelings in the abominations of a Sun- 
day-newspaper — and this I call religion — this I designate 
as the sanctification of the Lord's day! 

But indeed, Christian brethren, the duties of this holy 

season are so spiritual, so opposite to the carnal and earthly 

tendencies of human nature, so surrounded by temptations 

and suggestions on all hands, that there is not one of us 

14 



158 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

but may discern much to be amended, improved, omitted, 
supplied. Our order of engagements is incomplete, our care 
of our family wanting in vigilance, our forethought drowsy 
and treacherous, our interruptions of religious exercises too 
frequent and too long. There is much that admits of alter- 
ation. Let us look well into our family rules, family habits, 
family hours, family religion, family attendance on the public 
worship of God, and we shall discern lamentable marks of 
decay and lukewarmness, — we shall discern many things, 
which, if not dishonorable to the Sabbath, are at least not 
so honorable to it as they might be. But this leads me to 
consider, 

III. That in order to keep holy the Lord's day, we must 
carry the true spirit of the christian dispensa- 
tion into these duties. We must not celebrate a Jew- 
ish but a Christian festival. We must imbibe that spirit 
of rest and delight in God, that sense of refreshment and 
repose, in his more immediate service, which the liberty of 
the gospel breathes, and without some degree of which we 
can never discharge these duties aright. 

The general habit of mind cannot be better described 
than in the words of the psalmist: "How amiable are thy 
tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts; my soul longeth, yea, even 
fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh 
crieth out for the living God — a day in thy courts is better 
than a thousand; I had rather be a door-keeper in the 
house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.* 
Or again, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will 
I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all 
the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, 
and inquire in his temple. "f Or again, "My soul shall be 
satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall 
praise thee with joyful lips. "J 

This is the language of delight, of repose of soul in the 
duties of religion. Join to this the particular discoveries 
of the New Testament, as to the way of access in the blood 
of Christ, and by the influences of the Spirit, and we have 
the complete description of the devotional temper. 

In like manner, the Holy prophets — "Blessed is the man 
that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold of it 
— that chooseth the things that please me — that join them- 
selves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of 

* Ps. lxxxiv. I, 2, 10. t Ps. xxvii. 4. } Ps. Ixiii. 5. 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 159 

the Lord — even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and 
make them joyful in my house of prayer."* Love, choice 
of God, joy in the house of prayer, stand in complete con- 
trast with a yoke, a burden, a mere task, as too many rep- 
resent the duties of religion to be. 

But the most ample account of the spirit which should 
pervade the sabbatical duties, is in a passage which, in 
common with the preceding, we have formerly quoted for 
another purpose; "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sab- 
bath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the 
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and 
shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine 
own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt 
thou delight thyself in the Lord."f Here, the'spirit of the 
right observance of the Lord's day is expressed in a most 
striking phrase — "if thou call the Sabbath a delight, 

THE HOLY OF THE LORD, HONORABLE, AND SHALT HONOR 

him." We are to esteem it honorable, above all other 
days; we are peculiarly to honor Him, whose bounty created 
us, whose long-suffering has preserved us, and whose un- 
searchable goodness has provided for us a way of eternal 
redemption. Then joy will fill our hearts. The glory of 
our divine Lord, his majesty, his sovereignty over us, his 
infinite excellency, his continued benefits, his omnipotent, 
never-failing providence, will possess our minds; and we 
shall feel, as the Sabbath morn returns, that we are going 
to the palace of the great King, that we are approaching 
the abode of a heavenly Father, that we are going up to 
God, to "God our exceeding joy." From this temper will 
flow the appropriate dispositions which should govern the 
details of the day. The chief of these is, spiritual repose 
of heart in God, in opposition to earthly, sensual, intellec- 
tual pleasure — "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sab- 
bath, from doing thy pleasure, on my holy day." Here 
is the main difficulty: so long as sensual repose, instead of 
spiritual; intellectual effort, instead of devotional; the 
pleasure of the mere appetites, instead of the pleasure of 
the soul in God, is the governing principle in our religion, 
the Sabbath will never be kept aright. A change in our 
taste and estimate of things, must first touch the main springs 
of happiness. Then we shall cease from "doing our pleas- 

* Isa. lvi. 2. 7. f Isa. lviii. 13, 14. 



160 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

ure;" and shall willingly aim at doing the pleasure of God. 
Amusement, recreation, pastimes, indolent repose, satisfac- 
tion in worldly company, worldly society, worldly banquets, 
will cease; new pleasures will be sought for in the pleas- 
ures of devotion, of faith, of hope, of communion with God. 
Then will the Sabbath be a "delight, the holy of the Lord, 
honorable;" and we shall honor god in it. And thus 
will our pleasure, ways, words, works, be newly directed. 
Instead of "doing our own ways," we shall choose the ways 
that God commands, and occupy the Sabbath with its ap- 
propriate duties. Instead of "finding our own pleasure," 
we shall find God's, or rather, shall perceive a new and 
more elevated pleasure in his service; instead of "speaking 
our own words," we shall order our conversation to the 
glory of God, and the edification of our neighbor. Per- 
haps there are few sins more common, and more insidious 
than that to which these last words refer, "speaking our 
own words," that is, secular conversation on the Sunday 
— news, inquiries, discussions on matters literary, political, 
philosophical. Thus all impression of spiritual things fades 
from the mind; the seed of the word is lost; the ordinary 
associations and habits of the six days' labor are insensi- 
bly resumed, and the Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved,, 

I need not add here, that the reading of Sunday news- 
papers is directly in contradiction to the whole spirit which 
should be cultivated on that blessed day. It encourages 
the most flagrant violation of the Sabbath, in those who 
print, who sell, who circulate these monstrous productions 
— too commonly filled with matter of the most licentious and 
sceptical tendency; and more injurious and contaminating, 
from the day on which they are disseminated. They totally 
unfit the mind for the religious duties before it; or rather, 
they make those duties impracticable. 

But how delightful is the Sabbath, when occupied as it 
should be! Can any picture be more inviting than that of 
a family, a neighborhood, a parish, honoring the day of God 
with cheerful and grateful hearts — meditating on that sanc- 
tification which is the great design of the day of rest — fill- 
ing up its hours with the various and important exercises of 
public and private devotion — and imbuing every act of 
duty with the Christian temper, with the filial spirit — the 
spirit not "of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adop- 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 161 

tion, crying, Abba, Father?"* How quickly would diffi- 
culties be overcome, if once we found our pleasure in the 
exercises of religion! See how men contrive, labor, sur- 
mount obstacles, for the enjoyment of what they love! Ob- 
serve how eagerly they hasten on the hour, when the pleas- 
ure returns. Mark how they endeavor to lengthen the pe- 
riod of its continuance — then contrast with this the weari- 
ness they feel in the duties of the Sabbath — how they 
abridge the heavy employ — how they encroach insensi- 
bly on its prescribed limits — how they contrive pleas of 
necessity for escaping from some of its services — how 
tame and formal they are in the discharge of them — 
how late in their arrival at the house of God! What ir- 
reverence in their manner! How insensible to the sym- 
pathies of devotion! How awake to every slight inconve- 
nience, every occasional prolongation of the prayers or 
sermon — every pressure of heat or cold — every defect in 
the manner or voice of the minister! What does all this 
betray, but the inward dissatisfaction, the want of harmony 
of feeling in the services! Let the spirit of the Christian 
dispensation imbue their minds, and all would change its 
appearance. Pleasure, delight, would beam in the coun- 
tenance, and all would be in keeping with the designs of 
the Almighty, in the institution of the day. 

But we hasten to complete our review of the manner 
in which the Christian Sabbath should be observed, by 
suggesting, that in addition to what we have noted, we must 

IV. Especially glorify God for those mighty bless- 
ings WHICH ARE APPOINTED TO BE COMMEMORATED ON 

the Lord's day — Creation, Redemption, Heaven. 

These are the express topics in the divine praise, for 
which the Sabbath was constituted. We must join the 
commemoration of these to the other duties of sanctification, 
of public and private devotion, and of a temper of filial repose 
and joy in God. I conceive we are often lamentably de- 
ficient in those direct acts of adoration ar.d gratitude, for 
the peculiar and stupendous blessings of providence and 
grace, which the Sabbath is designed to celebrate. We 
enter perhaps into the other branches of our duty with some 
feeling; but our minds are too exclusively occupied with 

* Rom. viii. 15. 

*14 



162 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

ourselves, and our own immediate circle of trials and duties 
— we are selfish and contracted in our gratitude— we do 
not rise up to God in the magnificence of his benefits — we 
forget that songs ever new should be chanted to him who 
doeth such great things for us. 

Call to mind how expressly creation is assigned as a 
reason for the appointment of the sacred day — "For in six 
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 
things that are therein," — not merely at the institution in 
Paradise, but in the Mosaic law, in the various recapitu- 
lations of it, and even in the epistle to the Hebrews, where 
the subject is merely referred to. Yes, the Sabbath is the 
celebration of God's glory in nature. We confess ourselves 
the worshippers of the one living and true God. We sep- 
arate ourselves from atheists, unbelievers, sceptics, profane 
contemners of God, now; just as the patriarchs and Isra- 
elites of old separated themselves from heathens, from idola- 
ters, from the pagan worshippers of the nations around them. 
We should every Sabbath, when we rehearse our articles 
of faith in the temple of the Lord, or when the sacred his- 
tories, and psalms which relate to the creation, are read, 
as well as in our own private and domestic devotions, glo- 
rify expressly the great God of heaven and earth, adore 
the wonders of his hand, meditate on his wisdom, goodness, 
and power, and ascribe to him the praise of creation, pres- 
ervation^ continual deliverance. A Christian is the only 
true philosopher. He sees God in every thing. He ac- 
knowledges the traces of his matchless skill on every side. 
He discovers a father's love in all the order of the universe. 
He imitates the song by which the first Sabbath was cele- 
brated at the creation of man, when "the morning stars 
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
The Sabbath is to him a sign, a badge, a cognizance of 
his allegiance to his glorious Creator, the "King eternal, 
immortal, invisible, the only wise God." He "in whose 
hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways." 

2. But redemption is a yet higher note in the choir 
of praise, which on the Sabbath surrounds our heavenly 
King. At the deliverance from Egypt this song was be- 
gun; but at the great deliverance from the spiritual Egypt, it 
was amplified and exalted. This temporal redemption was 
prefixed to the promulgation of the whole decalogue, from 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 163 

the Mount of Sinai: "I am the Lord thy God which brought 
thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bond- 
age;" and it was attached especially to the fourth com- 
mandment, in the last recapitulation of it by Moses: "And 
remember that thou wast a stranger in the land of Egypt, 
and that the Lord thy God brought thee out hence, through 
a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm; therefore the 
Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day." 
And the spiritual redemption was the reason of that change 
of the day of celebration, which from the temporal, trans- 
ferred it to the eternal blessing. Yes; on the first day of 
the week we adore a triumphant Savior, we meditate on 
his ceasing and resting and being refreshed from the work 
of the new creation; even as Almighty God ceased from 
his. No Sabbath should pass without the praises of our 
rising, ascending, interceding Redeemer being sounded in 
the church. It is his own day, the day of his glory, the 
day of his resting from his labors, the day of his "opening 
the kingdom of heaven to all believers." The song is al- 
ready prepared to our hands: "Thou hast ascended up on 
high; thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received 
gifts for men, yea for the rebellious also, that the Lord 
God might dwell among them."* We must add to the 
other special duties of the Sabbath, this record of our faith 
in Christ. We must subjoin to our praises to God the 
Father who created us, the adoration of God the Son who 
redeemed us. We must make our public confession of 
Christ Jesus our Lord. The Lord's day is the badge of 
the covenant of grace. "He that offereth praise glori- 
fieth me," saith the Lord by the psalmist, "and to him that 
ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation 
of God. "f 

3. Nor should the praise of the Holy Ghost be omitted 
amongst the especial blessings celebrated on the Sabbath. 
The rest of heaven is, by his grace and the anticipa- 
tions he vouchsafes, sealed to our hopes. This is that eternal 
repose in God which from the record of the first institution 
in paradise, to the latest argument of St. Paul, has been 
presented as the final object of the day of rest. It typifies, 
sets forth, assures to every sincere believer the ultimate 

* Psalm Ixviii. 18. t Psalm 1. 23. 



164 PRACTICAL DUTIES 

happiness at which he aims. < ( There remaineth" this 
last refreshment and salvation "for the people of God." 
Let us look up towards it, dear brethren, in our meditations 
and hopes. Let every Sabbath prepare us for its appro- 
priate employment. Let the Holy Ghost, who on this day 
was vouchsafed to the church, to be the comforter, teacher, 
guide, sanctifier, and great Author of all 'grace under the 
New Testament, be adored and glorified. Let us implore 
of him the power to realize the promises of redemption, to 
view with gratitude the wonders of creation and providence, 
and to unite all with the prospects of the rest of heaven. 
St. Augustine considers the Sabbath as peculiarly the law 
of the Holy Ghost. The first two commandments he looks 
upon as relating to the honor of God the Father; the third, 
as especially referring to God the Son, the eternal word, 
whose name is not to be taken in vain, nor to be reduced 
to the rank of a mere creature; and the fourth, or sabbati- 
cal precept, he refers to the praise of the Holy Ghost, who, 
as the author of rest and peace in his church, is peculiarly 
honored on the day which agrees so entirely with his own 
office. # We enter not into a defence critically of the sen- 
timent of the holy Father. We seize the thought; and 
glorify God the Spirit on the day which is to raise us by 
his inspiration to the foretaste and pledge of our heavenly 
rest! 

And now from these considerations on the practical du- 
ties of the Christian Sabbath, let us, in applying the dis- 
course, 

I. Remark the conviction which such a discus- 
sion SHOULD FIX IN THE MINDS OF THE IRRELIGIOUS 

and unconverted. At what a distance are they from 
the true spirit and temper of the servants of God ! They 
dispute against the divine authority of the Lord's day. 
They complain of the various duties we enjoin. They de- 
clare the impossibility of rising up to such a tone of piety. 
They invent excuses for absence and omission. But what 
do they in fact admit in all this, but their want of religious 
taste and feeling? What do they avow, but the want of 
spiritual judgment, pleasures, pursuits? The more they 
argue against the Sabbath, the more they condemn them- 

* British Review ; viii. 483. 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 165 

selves. The further they recede from devotional habits and 
delights, the greater distance do they place between them- 
selves and God. 

Yes, let such be induced to consider their own ways and 
turn to the Lord. Let them weigh the authority, and re- 
member the duties of God's blessed day; and let them seek 
that fundamental change of heart which will render the de- 
votions of the day a pleasure, its duties a choice, its proper 
exercises the spontaneous overflowing of gratitude and love. 
Then would these Sabbaths be the nundin-e spirituales, 
the spiritual market-days (to speak with Bishop Andrews) 
to their souls; then would they be as anxious to carry away 
commeatum ANiMiB, provision for the mind, for reforming 
the will, for regulating' the affection, for illuminating the 
understanding, as they are careful to carry away provision 
for the body from the markets whither they resort. 

But what can we say as to the spiritual state of those 
multitudes, who still continue to have little or no conscience 
about hallowing God's blessed day? Where shall we place 
them? Under what class are they to be arranged? Where 
is the indolent and sensual Sabbath-keeper, or rather Sab- 
bath-violater to be placed, who rests only as his ox, or his 
ass, or his cattle? Where is the pleasure-taking Sabbath- 
breaker to be arranged? Where the gluttonous and wine- 
bibbing? Where the busy, mercantile, or professional 
Sabbath-breaker, who thinks that the hurries of his con- 
cerns excuse him from the worship of God? Where is the 
formalist's Sabbath, whose heart remains behind, when hi& 
person and his lips seem to approach his Maker and Re- 
deemer? And what shall we say to the infidel's Sabbath, 
the scoffer's Sabbath, the debauchee's Sabbath? Alas! 
the heart turns sick at the fearful guilt of the numbers, who ? 
with knowledge, and opportunities, and means of sanctifying 
the day of grace, abuse, neglect, despise, violate it. Let 
such awake, ere it be too late to their immense loss, as well 
as to their heavy criminality before Almighty God. 

Shall God, my fellow sinners, have consecrated a day 
from the creation of man, and wilt thou stand out against 
his gracious command? Shall God have republished his 
will in the fourth commandment of the decalogue—shall he 
have enforced it by all the motives of his righteous author- 
ity—shall he have poured around it all the milder glories of 



166 PRACTIAL DUTIES 

the new covenant, as well as the tremendous judgments of 
the old, and wilt thou not give God his due? Wilt thou 
not yield him the just rent which he demands upon the gift 
of thy time, thy health, thy property, thy six days' labor? 
Wilt thou remain insensible to thine eternal interest, thy 
present and future happiness, the preparation thou needest 
for death and judgment? O, consider thy ways, seek thy 
Savior's forgiveness, be ashamed and confounded for thy 
past neglect. Begin a new life. Enter upon a new course. 
Seek that holy taste and divine principle of life which will 
make the Christian Sabbath natural, interesting, pleasant, 
delightful, necessary. 

Take at least the preparatory steps. If you cannot en- 
ter into all the engagements of the Sabbath, enter into 
some of them. By degrees new and better habits will be 
formed. By degrees the whole compass of sabbatical du- 
ties will become easy. Only begin in the strength of God, 
and relying on the operations of his grace. Take a view 
first of the great end of the institution, the sanctification 
of the soul. Then follow out the different classes of du- 
ties which spring from it, as branches from the parent 
stock. Next seek for something of the spiritual taste which 
forms the Christian temper. And lastly, let the grand 
blessings of creation and redemption, and the hope of hea- 
ven, be in some degree the topics of your praise. 

II. But may we not, all of us, Christian brethren, dis- 
cover topics enough of humiliation in the discussion 
which has taken place? Which of us discharges the du- 
ties of the holy day of God as we should? In fact, the 
Sabbath is so closely connected with Christianity itself, 
that as our Christianity rises or falls, so will our observa- 
tion of the sacred season be elevated, or decline. Nothing 
is more difficult, considering our corruption and the snares 
of Satan, than a holy, wise, kind, and yet resolute gov- 
ernment of ourselves and families on the Lord's day. 
AH possible hindrances arise to oppose this duty. Espec- 
ially in the management of our children and household, we 
meet continual obstacles to our best purposes. One remark, 
however, may be offered on the other side. We must pre- 
serve the amiable spirit of our Savior 3 and the gentle tem- 
per of his religion in our domestic arrangements. Few 
things are more important than to make the Sunday agree* 



OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 167 

able, in a proper sense of the term, to young persons and 
servants. If any thing morose and rigid is apparent in 
our manner, to those placed under our care, it will inevitably 
create disgust and aversion. And yet remissness, negli- 
gence, cowardice must not creep in. The wise balancing 
of these things, then, will require much consideration and 
prayer. Variety may be thrown into the duties, so as to 
interest the young mind, without lessening in the least 
their general effect. The reading of the Scripture— the 
writing or finding texts upon a given subject — the learning 
of hymns — catechising — the family devotions of the morn- 
ing and evening — the public worship of God afford suffi- 
cient diversity, excite attention and dissipate lassitude. 
Much wisdom must, however, be employed, kindness of 
manner, consideration of age, health, circumstances. There 
should ever be a due admixture of firmness with benignity 
— all supported by an uniform example, and ^accompanied 
with fervent prayer. 

Indeed prayer, especially for larger measures of the 
Holy Spirit, is indispensable to the right discharge of these 
important duties. If we can do nothing aright without 
prayer, much less can we 'sustain a course of obedience, 
with love and delight, in the consecration of the Sabbath, 
without the continual supplies of grace and strength. But 
these supplies will not be refused to us. Our defects will 
be forgiven us through the blood of Christ, our infirmities 
succoured by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus will our 
Sabaths pour into our hearts the consolation of the prom- 
ises, and will at length terminate in God himself who first 
instituted the day and is its highest consummation and end, 



SERMOST VI. 



THE UNSPEAKABLE IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT OB- 
SERVATION OF THE SABBATH, WITH THE EVILS OF 
THE OPPOSITE ABUSE. 



Isaiah Iviii. 1, 2. 

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, 
and shew my people their transgressions, and the house 
of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and 
delight to know my ivays, as a nation that did 
righteously and forsook not the ordinances of their God; 
they ask of me the ordinances of justice, they take de- 
light in approaching to God. 

Doctrine is not enough, precept is not enough, on such a 
subject as that which we have been treating. We must 
address the conscience; we must be bold in our appeals to 
the heart of man — we must assert all the authority and 
majesty of truth. The minister of religion must not shrink 
from his task on such a question; he must "cry aloud, and 
spare not; he must show" the people of God "their trans- 
gressions, and the house of Jacob," the professed church of 
Christ, "their sins." He must penetrate the thin dis- 
guises which a false religion assumes, and tear off the 
mask which a pretence of "seeking God and of delighting 
in his ways" may present: and must declare that the exter- 
nal advantages and opportunities of religion only increase 
the guilt of the nation which tramples on that very day, 
when all these benefits would have their best effect. 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 169 

We proceed, therefore, to set before you the unspeak- 
able IMPORTANCE OF A RIGHT OBSERVATION OF THE 

Lord's day, with the evils of the opposite abuse 
■ — a subject difficult to treat from its very magnitude, from 
the multitude of topics which it embraces, and from the lit- 
tle perception men in general have of the sin of neglecting 
and dishonoring God's most ancient institution. 

For this may be premised; that the corruption of man, 
which resists generally all the great doctrines and duties of 
Christianity, may be expected to press with peculiar vio- 
lence against a barrier, which, like the Lord's day, is rais- 
ed against the whole current of that corruption. 

Nor is it unimportant to add, that an institution like 
this, which takes men off from their ordinary pursuits and 
gives them an interval for religious rest and public worship 
of Almighty God, must, if abused, become, from the very 
nature of the case, a source of unnumbered vices and dis- 
orders; must draw into itself torrents of those particular 
evils, which are ever ready to accumulate, as in a common 
receptacle, where space is given. There is no middle 
state here — the influence of the Sabbath for good or for 
evil upon nations, churches, families, individuals, is incal- 
culable. It is meant to be the best and holiest day of the 
week; but, if perverted, it becomes the worst and most de- 
structive. 

But how shall we impress you most deeply with this sub- 
ject? Shall we show you that a due regard to the institu- 
tion by a Christian nation is of the nature of a sacred com- 
pact? That it is essential to man's temporal and spiritual 
welfare, as a fallen but accountable creature? That it 
includes all the application of the Christian religion, and, 
in fact, its preservation in the world? That it binds to- 
gether all the links and obligations of civil society? That 
it immediately respects the authority and honor of Almighty 
God, and his favor and blessing upon a people? — And that, 
of course, the opposite abuse overturns every one of these 
things, and brings on the contrary evils? 

May God assist us by the influences of his Spirit; that, 
having no end in view but his glory, and depending for suc- 
cess on no power but his own; we may direct our inquiries 
with simplicity, and obey the dictates of truth with unre- 
served courage and joy! 
15 



170 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

I. For what, in fact, is the observation of the Christian 
Sabbath, but a most sacred compact; and what the 
abuse of it but the violation of that compact? It is obvi- 
ous, that it can only be by the very general and almost 
universal agreement of a nation, that secular affairs can 
be suspended, business stopped, public recreation and amuse- 
ments forbidden, offices and establishments closed, the min- 
isters of religion furnished with protection in the discharge 
of their duties, the interruptions of open profligacy prevent- 
ed, Christian assemblies authorized, churches erected for 
their use — in short, the whole frame-work of the public 
worship of God set up and continued. Laws are the ex- 
pression of public opinion — and go a certain length, both 
negatively in the repression of open insults on Christianity, 
and positively in sustaining and supporting the ministers 
and officers of the sanctuary. But all the real operation 
and success of such a system rests upon the compact and 
covenant of a Christian people one with another, and with 
their gracious God and Savior. 

The scattered converts of the first Christian churches 
could only celebrate their Sabbaths in early darkness, or 
the unobserved hours of the night: persecution hung over 
their meetings — they were happy if they were not dragged 
to the idol's temple and urged to join in the idol worship. 
This is one reason probably, why the apostles less fre- 
quently dwell upon the express duties of the Lord's day in 
the New Testament; leaving it rather to the consciences 
of their converts and the universal conviction that a Sab- 
bath was of perpetual moral obligation, to fill up the detail. 
The condition of domestic slavery, in which most of the 
Gentile converts were, would tend to increase the apostles' 
tenderness on the point. Still the first Christians kept 
holy the Lord's day, the badge of their redemption, to the 
utmost of their power. When Christianity triumphed 
over emperors and kings and statesmen and magistrates by 
the mild influence of the truth, things were changed. The 
holy day of weekly rest succeeded the festivals of the hea- 
then worship. When England was converted in the course 
of the divine mercy, her Heathen rites, her druidical or- 
gies, her savage customs, her brutal and idolatrous sacri- 
fices, were cast away — and the love of God, the preaching of 
the blessed gospel, the singing praises to Christ, the celebra- 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 171 

tion of the mysteries of his death, and the observation of the 
hallowed day on which all these were to be performed, suc- 
ceeded to them. Christian legislators in our own, as in 
other countries, arose to do what they could in guarding 
the new institutions. They continued thus to act. But 
still upon the consciences of individuals has ever rested, 
and must rest, the real and effectual obligation. The in- 
habitants of the nation, having .submitted to the yoke of 
the gospel, assumed its profession in the celebration of one 
day of religious joy. The covenant was signed and sealed, 
as it were, in this visible acknowledgment of the Christian 
faith; but the spirit and conduct of individuals and families 
fill up the conditions of it. Thus it is a compact. If de- 
vout care of children and servants, abstinence from ordinary 
duties and cheerful attendance upon the public and private 
offices of religion, mark the households of our towns and 
cities, the compact is fulfilled. If carelessness, indifference, 
non-attendance, creep in upon the general body, the com- 
pact is violated. It may remain, indeed, in its form — the 
external law may be unabrogated- — the churches may stand 
as before — -the ministers of religion may retain their office, 
— but the compact is made void. The Christian obligation 
is virtually abjured. If the evil goes on, every outward 
order and regulation will be by degrees weakened, evaded, 
contemned, and the Sabbath will be no more. 

I ask, then, whether, in this view, the importance of the 
due observance of the Lord's day is not immense? It is 
the fulfilment of a compact. Every act of violation tends 
to undermine the whole frame-work. Every wilful breach 
has the guilt of breaking down the universal consent, of 
beginning a destructive habit, of infecting the entire com- 
munity. The good example, the influence, the devout con- 
duct of each family, each person, goes to sustain the gen- 
eral duty, to make the covenant valid, to enable others to 
consecrate the day. 

The place, then, which each separate action fills, is like 
a stone in an arch, important, not only as to its isolated 
magnitude, but from its position, its coherence with the 
other parts, its necessity to the firmness and solidity of the 
whole structure. 

Look in this view at all the separate acts of all the care- 
less, the profane, the covetous, the unbelieving amongst our 



172 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

population — see their Sabbaths — estimate the evil done, 
not by the independent acts, but by the fearful influence, 
by the covenant broken, the stipulation trodden under foot, 
the engagements rendered difficult to others, impossible to 
themselves. Let no one say, "I am but an individual," 
—for the nation is made up of individuals. Let no one 
say, "A single act can be of small evil,"— -for the observ- 
ance of a national Sabbath is composed of single acts. 
Let no one pretend, "The stream and current of religious 
duty cannot be stopped by my particular resistance;" for 
the whole tide is constituted and impelled by the aggrega- 
tion of unnumbered minute elements; and every obstacle 
retards the flow. 

II. But estimate, in the next place, if you can, the im- 
portance of the universal observation of the Christian Sab- 
bath, from its bearings upon man's temporal and spir- 
itual WELFARE, AS A FALLEN BUT ACCOUNTABLE CREA- 
TURE. For is man, or is he not, an immortal being? Has 
he, or has he not, a soul allied to God, capable of knowing,, 
destined to serve him, and utterly void of real happiness^ 
till it be found in him? Has he, or has he not, received a 
revelation from x4Jmighty God, according to which he will 
be judged at the last day? Then, what is man's truest 
interest, what his essential duty, what his first and noblest 
object? And what is the great hindrance to his real wel- 
fare — to his attention to his religious convictions? Is it 
not the pressure of earthly things, the undue magnitude 
and importance which, from their proximity, they assume? 
Is it not the want of leisure for reflection, the want of a 
realising apprehension of the truth of unseen objects? Then 
the Sabbath gives all this leisure, calls man off from all this 
turmoil, interposes a day of repose, of recollection, of dis- 
tinct time for the care of his soul and the worship of God. 
The Sabbath raises the standard of his moral feelings, 
brings him to act upon his higher nature, his mind, his ra- 
tional part, his responsibility to an eternal Judge. The 
necessities of the body chiefly occupy the six days; the im- 
mortal destiny of man and his ultimate vocation by the gos- 
pel, claim the seventh. Nothing more tends to improve all 
the faculties, to quicken the practical judgment, to mature 
and invigorate the powers of the mind, to enlarge the 
sphere and multiply the sources of intellectual pleasure^ to 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 173 

open the widest avenues to happiness, to unite man with 
his true end, than the care of the soul and the celebration 
of the divine worship. 

What a sight for angels is the assembly of all the in- 
habitants of a nation, in its various subdivisions, before the 
Almighty God— confessing their sins, acknowledging his 
goodness, celebrating his praises, hearing his word, partak- 
ing of his mysteries. Creation, redemption, heaven brought, 
after an interval of six days' toil and secularity, full be- 
fore their view, and elevating and attracting the heart of a 
wayward, perverse, but noble race! 

It is to be further borne in mind, that man is fallen, cor- 
rupted, propense to the external objects which surround 
him — that the Lord's day is not merely the day of religious 
duty and rest, but the restoring, the awakening day — the 
day of recovery and reformation. It tends to bring man 
back to recollection, to seriousness, to penitence, to prayer. 
If the Sabbath be desecrated, his original disease gains 
ground, his convalescence, only incipient and doubtful, is 
suspended, and his whole spiritual prosperity and existence 
are endangered. It is not of Adam uncorrupted that we 
speak, but of Adam's race, sunk in selfishness and flesh, 
with only faint remains of moral feeling, and far from God 
and godliness. Nor is it of the devout and fervent part of 
the professed Christian world, or of the Protestant Chris- 
tian world in any form, that we exclusively speak; it is for 
the family of man scattered over the face of the earth, lost 
in heathenism and infidelity, that we would reserve the Sab- 
bath; it is for Pagans and Mahometans, for the members 
of the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, that we plead. 
We would exhibit to them the holy Sabbath in the exam- 
ple of the purer Christian bodies, to draw their attention, 
to mark the reality of our religion, to provide them informa- 
tion upon its nature and duties. How is a wandering, 
fallen, and depraved world to be recalled to God, without 
that day which celebrates the works and word and grace of 
God — that day which recognizes his authority over man — 
that day which proclaims his intellectual and accountable 
nature, his future, his eternal hopes? The Sabbath inter- 
poses a space between total irreligion and the conscience 
of man; it puts in the claims of God upon the human heart. 
*15 



174 IMPORTANCE OF THE &IGHT 

Nor is the temporal welfare of mankind less concerned 
than their spiritual, in the observation of the Lord's day, 
Man was created for six days' work, not for seven: his fac- 
ulties cannot bear an unremitted strain. Children and 
servants, and the laboring classes of mankind, (by far the 
more numerous, and the most liable to be oppressed,) re- 
quire what this institution gives— a day of repose, of refresh- 
ment, of religious recollection and peace. The whole world 
rests and is still, that God may speak, that conscience may 
resume her sway, that the exhausted body and mind may 
recruit their powers, and be fitted for a more vigorous effort. 
The utmost productive labor of man, is in the proportion of 
rest and exertion, ordained by his merciful Creator. The 
best prevention of disease is in the same provision. The 
prolongation of human life depends on the like alternation 
of toil and repose. The springs of pleasure are thus aug- 
mented and purified. The satiety, the sameness, the wea- 
riness, the uniformity of human life is broken; and a blessed., 
hallowed period for religion is interposed. The interval 
between these seasons is neither so distant as to be ineffec- 
tual to its end, nor so near as to injure the real interests of 
our worldly callings — but, like every thing else in God's 
revelation, unites the prosperity of the soul with the high- 
est welfare of the body and concerns of man. 

How great, then, is the importance of every one's fall- 
ing in with the designs of this institution! Can any one 
estimate adequately the soul, eternity, heaven and hell, 
God, Christ, salvation, pardon, hope, happiness — the whole 
intellectual, moral, and religious welfare of man, formed 
after his Creator's image, fallen from it by sin, called to 
the renovation of it by the blessings and duties of the 
Christian Sabbath! 

Look at the evils of the contrary abuse. See man sunk 
from his real honors into the rank of the brute; see him lost 
in appetite, vice, lust, pride, carelessness; with nothing to 
redeem, nothing to call him back, nothing to restore; the 
Spirit of God departed from him ; a reprobate sense possessing 
and weighing down his soul. The main difference between 
heathen and Christian nations is the recurrence of a Sab- 
bath, and of what follows upon it. The violation of this 
day in Christian countries, is the brand upon the forehead 
of nominal religion. See the Sabbath-breaker opening his 






OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 175 

shop, writing his letters, preparing his accounts: see him 
entering his office; see him imposing upon his servants, his 
clerks, his dependants, the yoke of unpermitted and unholy 
labor. Observe him in languid carelessness, idling away 
the morning hours, and disgracing, by excess and worldly 
company, the evening. Notice the effect upon his own 
mind and habits. He boasts of his liberty, his freedom 
from superstitious fears, his superiority to ordinary preju- 
dices. But he is the slave of covetousness, of pride, of 
appetite. The violation of the Sabbath draws with it the 
neglect of all other religious duties — prayer, family relig- 
ion, reading of the Scriptures. Misery follows in the train. 
In vain he blusters, and protests and affects independence: 
the moral judgments of the Almighty overtake him — the 
selfish, earthly creature, vegetating rather than living, is lost 
in shifting speculations; diffuses mischief all around; neglects 
and corrupts his children and servants; has no corrective 
to his jealous and irritated temper, no cordial to his droop- 
ing spirits, no prospects to enliven the future, no friend, no 
Savior to relieve him as to the past. The Sunday jour- 
nal, the Sunday festival, the Sunday amusements, fail to 
please. He sinks into lifeless despondency, or frets with 
infuriated malice — all his noble capacities perverted, be- 
cause his God has been contemned, and the day of religion 
abused. 

And mark his inhumanity and want of sympathy, with 
the feelings and miseries of his dependants, the poor, the 
weak, the depressed. He robs the human family of the 
best boon of heaven; he compels them to work when God 
allowed them to repose; he chains down in vice and ignor- 
ance three-fourths of mankind; he raises a barrier against 
the entrance of light, purity, salvation; he tends by his 
example to abolish Christianity, to deny his God, to erect 
the vain idol of an imaginary deity, and to sink at last 
into a practical Atheism. 

III. But we proceed to show, that the due observation 
of the Lord's day includes all the application of the 
christian religion, and in fact, its preservation in the 
world; whilst the violation of it goes to the exactly con- 
trary effect. For what is the Christian religion, without 
its means of instruction and grace? What is Christianity, 
without the Bible, without the ministry of God's word, 



178 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

without meditation and prayer, without the education of 
children, without the familiar communication of truth to the 
poor and ignorant ? And when and how are these means to be 
put into effect, if the day appointed for that very purpose 
is desecrated, dishonored, lost? And what is the applica- 
tion of Christianity by all these methods, but the grand 
point, the main end of that divine revelation? It was 
given to be made known, to be applied to the conscience of 
every human being. It was given to be an universal relig- 
ion. It was given, not to be a theory in the schools- of 
philosophy, but to be a grand practical blessing to the 
hearts and lives of men. In this view, it stands distinct 
from the Levitical dispensation, and in contrast with all 
the idolatries of the heathen superstitions. It is not a 
limited design of separating a single family or nation; but 
it extends itself to the whole world — the partition-wall 
broken down — the distinctions of tongue, and clime, and 
people, abolished — the cere»monial observances swept away 
— and all mankind the common objects of religious care. 
Much less is it the confused and groundless theory of a 
superstitious idolatry, ignorant of all the principles of truth, 
wasting itself in interminable controversies, confined to the 
schools of learning, as to its real tenets, and leaving the 
multitude in the gloom of a cruel and debasing bondage. 
No; Christianity flows from the Father of lights; it brings 
plain, interesting, all-important truth to man. It reveals 
a scheme of infinite love for the recovery of apostate, sin- 
ful creatures, in the death of the eternal Son of God. It 
promises the divine and effectul grace of the Holy Spirit. 
It constitutes a sytem of means, in which man is to wait 
upon God, and where God has promised to communicate 
himself to man. These means, simple, unostentatious, 
easy to be employed, are the great medium between the 
infinite God and his feeble creature. As the Substratum 
of these methods of instruction is laid the Holy Sabbath 
— this gives the time, the space, the monitory call, the 
privilege, the motive for the employment of them. 

There stands Christianity — it speaks in the Bible, the 
inspired book of God, "able to make man wise unto salva- 
tion," which every one is bound to read, to search, to medi- 
tate upon. But when? On the day of the Bible, the day 
which the very first history in its pages institutes and hal- 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 177 

lows. Blot out the Sabbath; you make the regular and 
deliberate study of the Scriptures impossible to the vast 
body of mankind. 

Christianity stands forth — she designates an order of 
men to preach her blessed tidings — she institutes the min- 
istry of the word — she bids the faithful pastor, evangelist, 
and ambassador of grace, go into all the world, preach the 
fall and recovery of man, take out truth from the written 
volume and apply it to the conscience, open it to the under- 
standing, press it upon the heart of man. There stands 
the minister of Christ, "as the voice of one crying in the wil- 
derness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." He vindicates 
truth, he clears it from the subterfuges of human folly, he 
sets forth its genuine importance. Then he convokes the 
assemblies of men, he calls them to repentance and faith, 
he forms them into churches; he meets them for the pur- 
pose of edification, exhortation, comfort. But when is all 
this to be done? Who is to form "the agreement for the 
time and place of meeting? What is to oblige, invite 9 
persuade men? Who is to suspend the ordinary business 
of life, and make it possible for the great body of man- 
kind to assist at religious convocations? The Holy 
Christian Sabbath. Without the Sabbath, all is con- 
fusion, distraction, defeat. You have no regular public 
ministry, no time for calm attention to the preaching of the 
word, no place for the grand instrument of awakening 
souls, and building up the Christian temple. 

But public and private supplication, confession, giving of 
thanks, intercession, are essential to the application of 
Christianity. What is religion without prayer? Where 
is the profession of the faith of Christ, without holy sup- 
ination, in assembled bodies, to seek the divine favor, to 
honor the divine majesty, to avow our dependance on the 
divine grace? How are the blessings of revelation to be 
obtained, without that humble suit and united petition, to 
which God has been pleased to attach them? The Sab- 
bath abolished, neglected, dishonored; prayer is blotted 
out from the earth; Christianity is paralysed; the humility 
of heart which distinguishes the faith of the Bible from all \ 
other creeds, is no more. For it is the day of rest which 
gives time for prayer, which calls to public and private and 



178 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

domestic devotion, which shuts out the world, and brings 
man before the presence of his God. 

And when, again, are the blessed sacraments of Christ's 
religion to be administered, if the Christian Sabbath be 
obliterated, which is destined for the celebration of them, 
and without which they can never be decently and devoutly 
attended? These are the external symbols and pledges of 
the redeeming blood and sanctifying Spirit of our Lord. 
They are the peculiar channels and means of grace. They 
follow the Bible, the ministry of the word, prayer. They 
are the bond of communion between Christians and their 
divine Head. They constitute a grand branch of the pro- 
fession of the Christian religion. But they stand upon the 
platform of the Sabbath, and expire with its fall. 

And what will become of the education of children, and 
the familiar communication of truth to the vast body of the 
poor and ignorant, without a time and space for those du- 
ties, banked in from the wild waste of worldly cares? 
Look at your Sunday schools, your infant schools, your 
adult schools, your catechetical lectures, your books and 
tracts for the young and the poorer classes. Look at the 
open spot left by the Sabbath for the erection of this spirit- 
ual machinery, and its easy operation and blessed fruits. 
Abolish the Lord's day, and you abolish the education of 
the population, the inculcation of primary truth, the diffu- 
sion of religious knowledge, the amelioration and safe eleva- 
tion in the scale of intellectual and moral being, of the very 
classes for whom the Savior came, to whom he declared 
his gospel to be best adapted, and whose welfare, temporal 
and spiritual, he especially consulted. 

Consider, then, the unspeakable obligation of the Sab- 
bath. On the means enumerated no one will dispute that 
the application of Christianity depends — to those means 
God promises his blessing — in and by these means the 
Holy Spirit works. We do not speak too strongly when 
we assert that the efficacy of our divine religion — 'its holy 
influences — its transforming, renovating power, very much 
depends on this one single point, the sanctification of the 
Christian Sabbath. Every act of profanation of its holy 
duties, every argument levelled against its authority, every 
example of a careless, irreligious family, neglecting its 
claims, goes to undo or prevent the healing virtues of Chris- 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 179 

tianity — it goes to turn religion from a practical, holy, 
blessed principle, into a form, a name, a pretence. 

And this it becomes, as the abuse of the day of God 
prevails. The ground on which we press the immense im- 
portance of the Sabbath, is from the evils which the viola- 
tion of it occasions. Sabbath-breaking not only annuls the 
sacred compact of Christian nations, not only opposes the 
temporal and spiritual welfare of man, as a feeble but ac- 
countable being; but prevents all the application of Chris- 
tianity in its blessings to the human heart. The separate 
instances of infringing the law of the Sabbath, may appear 
of little moment. We see not the interior process of the 
evil — the outward garb of decent morals is not at once 
thrown off. But look at the sure result. What is the 
Sabbath-breaker about? Is he reading his Bible? — He 
never opens that book which condemns his sin, Does he 
attend the ministry of God's word? — He dislikes more and 
more its admonitions, its calls to repentance. As his vio- 
lation of the Sabbath increases, his disposition to attend 
the public preaching of the gospel lessens, his resolutions of 
returning to it become weaker, his regard for Christianity 
itself gradually expires. Does he join in public or domes- 
tic prayer? — Alas! he has left off the devout practice since 
the Sabbath has been broken. When he began the occa- 
sional neglect, first of a part, and then of the whole of that 
sacred day, prayer was not altogether forgotten. Some 
private devotions lingered amongst his habits — education 
and conscience had not wholly lost their force. But the 
evil acquired strength. The Sunday was first wearisome, 
then disgusting, then perverted to occasional, and lastly to 
continued, indulgences of a secular kind — and with this, 
prayer was renounced, forgotten. And what has the Sab- 
bath-breaker to do with the sacrament, or with the religious 
education of the young, and the poor and ignorant? He 
may promote the pride of intellectual knowledge, he may 
diffuse a literature tinged with infidelity, he may nourish 
the daring spirit of inquiry which a false philosophy pro- 
claims; but the solid, religious, useful education of the 
young and ignorant in their immortal destinies, in their ac- 
countableness to God, in their duties to their Creator, Re- 
deemer, Sanctifier, he utterly neglects and opposes. In 
short, if the real want of religious character in the violator 



180 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

of God's holy day could be estimated, it would be found to 
be just in the proportion as that institution was forsaken. 

Nor is it too much to say, startling as it may sound in 
some ears, that the existence of Christianity in the world 
depends upon the observation of the Sabbath. Let this 
visible pledge of allegiance be withdrawn, let this sacred 
time be filled up by the cares and follies of the world, let 
public prayer and sacraments, public preaching of God's 
word and instruction of the ignorant be neglected and vir- 
tually renounced— and where is Christianity, where its hold 
upon man, where its means of operation, where its healing 
influence, where its application to the heart? Yes; God 
has bound every thing together. In appointing a Sabbath, 
lie has not instituted a useless, secondary, non-essential 
rite., The Sabbath was made for man — for such a 
creature as he is — in such a system of means, and with 
such a revelation as Christianity proposes to him. The 
same God that knew what was in that Revelation, and 
what was also in man, ordained the holy Sabbath as the 
accompanying means of the whole scheme of redemption — 
as the field in which all its blessings might be sown — as the 
scaffolding, by the aid of which all the building might be 
erected. The institution is nothing indeed if left in theory, 
nothing if abused to wrong ends, nothing if relied on with 
pride, or frittered away by superstition; but every thing if 
ysed for its proper purposes, every thing if practically em- 
ployed, every thing if animated and blessed with the pres- 
ence and power of God. But this is not all. 

IV. So important is the Lord's day, that it connects 
and holds together all the links and obligations op 
human society, which the violation of it tends to de- 
stroy. Government cannot subsist without religion. — 
The institution which sustains Christianity, sustains those 
duties and habits, those virtues of the heart, that mildness 
and humanity, that regard to truth and the sanctity of an 
oath, that sense of conscience and prospect of the tribunal 
of Christ, which strengthens human authority, preserves 
the peace of communities and nations, and is the bond of 
human society. The Sabbath recals all these great princi- 
ples, impresses them anew when effaced, urges them when 
neglected, deepens them more and more, and preserves 
them in activity upon the heart. If the Sabbath be lost ? 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 181 

man is selfish, proud, discontented, disloyal, turbulent. His 
conscience becomes hardened, his passions restless, his 
submission to human authority reluctant. If the Sabbath 
be duly observed, God governs the moral and intellectual 
being, the law of God sustains the just rule of man, the 
grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ attract the weary 
sinner, the obligations of conscience are vigorous and effec- 
tual, peace reigns within the breast, and willing subjection 
to authority as the ordinance of God, follows. Civil soci- 
ety is contained and held together by the Sabbath: which 
gives firmness and consistency to all the intercourse of man 
with man, to all the engagements which cement honorable 
commerce and the affairs of a peaceful agriculture, to all 
the current opinions and feelings which form the standard 
of morals. 

The law of the Sabbath also unites all the classes of 
men one with another, by teaching them their common ori- 
gin, their common guilt, their common mercies, their com- 
mon duties. It places them before an Almighty Judge, 
and shrivels into insignificance the petty distinctions of rank 
and wealth, in the view of the eternal and all-glorious Po- 
tentate. To meet in one common temple, before one com- 
mon Savior, to supplicate one and the same salvation, sheds 
a humanizing, softening influence, gives a common sympa- 
thy, excites the feelings of brotherhood and intercommunity. 

The Sabbath tends to humble man, and thus dispose him 
to all the duties of social and public life. The obstacles it 
removes. The pride and self-sufficiency of man it abates. 
It lays the foundation of lowliness, suavity of temper, for- 
giveness of injuries. It promotes a courteous, obliging car- 
riage. "The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is 
the maker of them all." The Sabbath annihilates human 
vanity, teaches that God is no respecter of persons, exalts 
those of iow degree. The Sabbath humanizes man by the 
very neatness and cleanliness and frugality which it diffuses. 
Its good order, decency, and comfort, elevate the moral 
character. Its mildness and calmness of devotion engender 
self-respect, in a proper sense of the word. Its doctrines 
and duties and sacraments and prayers subdue the ruder 
feelings, awaken the humane and tender associations, expel 
the ruffian-passions, relieve the servant, the child, the de- 
16 



182 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

pendant, from the oppression of the austere master, and 
compose and mollify the intercourse of the world. 

Take the opposite abuses, and tell me what vices and 
outrages are not committed upon the Sabbath, when it is 
dishonored and violated. Of those who are executed as 
victims to the infraction of the laws of their country, the 
greater part date their ruin from the flagrant breaches of 
this sacred day. Of the hideous and fearful sins of impu- 
rity and licentiousness, the Sabbath is the season. Of the 
degrading habits of drunkenness, the Sabbath is the period, 
the spot, the occasion. Schemes of rapine and dishonesty, 
are almost all planned in the abused hours of the Lord's 
day. The first steps are perhaps not discernible. An 
occasional neglect of the ordinances of religion brings no 
instant profligacy of principle. Society is secure. But the 
tendency soon appears. The moral sense is loosened. The 
fear of God, like a barrier, being removed, the torrent of 
passion and concupiscence pours out of itself. The danger 
is augmented from the concealed labyrinths of the process. 
Should a loose companion say to a sober, religious youth, 
on the morning of the Christian Sabbath, u Go with me 
to-day, ruin your health, destroy your reputation, lose your 
money, kill your aged parents with grief, be a companion 
of prostitutes, rob your master, break the laws of your 
country, scorn God, be executed as a criminal, and plunge 
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" — cer- 
tainly the undebauched youth would tremble and flee. But 
the tempter conceals all this; he only says, "Do not go to 
church to-day, spend the day with me;" — all the rest fol- 
lows of course: — "the companion of fools shall be destroy- 
ed." The Sabbath-breaker is in truth prepared for every 
enormity, and every crime. He is a bold transgressor; he 
practically denies God's right to be worshipped, honored, 
reverenced, obeyed. He says, God is not an object of ad- 
miration, fear, gratitude, love. He that thus contemns 
God, has no regard for man. Society is not safe with him. 
He may be restrained from crime by selfish motives; he is 
not restrained by conscience and religious ones. 

Cast an eye on any one Lord's day in our great towns, 
and especially in our metropolis. Follow the Sabbath- 
breakers through the day. Class them. Tell me who 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 183 

they are. Count up their actions during the course of the 
sacred hours. Penetrate their secret chamber. See the 
influence of their doings on the subsequent week. Society 
totters under their crimes. Observe the families, the es- 
tablishments for merchandize, the offices, the posts of pub- 
lic responsibility which they fill — and trace the crimes, the 
outrages, the neglects, the falsehoods, the subterfuges, the 
nefarious and dark designs which the profanation of the 
Lord's day has engendered or matured — Yes, you have 
vice in all its forms and enormities, in the one sin of 
Sabbath-breaking. 

But the consideration is too painful. I hasten to point 
out, in the last place, 

V. That the observation of the Sabbath immediately 
honors Almighty God, and brings his favor and 
blessing upon a people; whilst the profanation of it pro- 
vokes his highest displeasure. 

For the Sabbath is God's day; it is the Lord's tribute; 
it is the acknowledgment which he requires for all his bless- 
ings, temporal and spiritual; it is the mark of regard and 
reverence which he demands from man. What, then, can 
so immediately touch his honor as the wilful profanation of 
this institution ? It precisely demonstrates man's contempt 
and ingratitude, his pride and secularity, his secret enmity 
against the government; and dislike of the worship of his 
God. 

The easier the observance of it is, the more grievous in- 
sult to the majesty of heaven is its violation. The greater 
the benefit which it is calculated to confer upon man, both 
in body and soul, the more perverse and unreasonable is his 
disobedience. 

The clearer, again, the light of that dispensation of the 
gospel under which he lives, the deeper becomes that moral 
criminality which the sin against so much light brings 
with it. The more free from false doctrines our creed 
and the more favorable our position for a distinct view of 
our duty, the higher presumption is involved in our neglect 
of it. 

It is not possible for the mind of man to measure the di- 
mensions of that guilt, which the deliberate profanation of 
the Lord's day under the gospel dispensation, in a free prot- 
estant country, involves. 



184 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

To admit the truth of a divine revelation, and then re- 
ject the first and most remarkable feature which distin- 
guishes that religion from every other — the only institution 
which includes all the worship, all the adoration, all the 
prayer, all the spiritual duties of that religion — is an in- 
consistency in itself, as well as an affront put upon our Al- 
mighty benefactor, which no words can adequately express. 
And this, when our country acknowledges a Sabbath, when 
the laws protect us in some measure in the observation of 
it, when the habits and usages of commerce are suspended, 
when some ingenuity must be employed and some force done 
to our feelings, and some loss of reputation hazarded, in 
violating the command! 

A command which, were there no religious obligation, 
man would be glad enough to fulfil — which, if he could 
choose it for himself, and employ it to his own ends, and 
separate it from the authority of the Almighty, he would 
rejoice to celebrate — which his bodily powers demand, 
which his fatigue persuades, which his satiety with the uni- 
formity of worldly pursuits invites,* — but which, because 
God requires it, because religion fixes her eye upon it, be- 
cause his highest spiritual duties concur with his temporal 
interest in enjoining it, he spurns and contemns; thus dem- 
onstrating the bitter root of enmity against God, from 
which his rebellion springs. 

And yet men in Christian countries expect God to bless 
them; they affect to be his worshippers, they call themselves 
by his name, they profess a general reliance upon his prov- 
idence, they allow that the affairs of empires, nations, fam- 
ilies, individuals, only prosper by his favor and mercy. But 
how can they reasonably look for this favor and this mercy, 
if they profane the day which is the seal and pledge of both? 
Can a people thus insulting God in the institution which 
must immediately affect his honor, really believe that he 
will bless and prosper them? No, my brethren; let us first 
reverence his name, let us first "turn away our foot" from 

* During the excesses of the French Revolution at the close of the last 
century, Christianity and its Sabbath were abolished — but the mere ne- 
cessities of man's nature compelled that infidel and atheistic government 
to institute a day of rest of their own, what they called a decade, occur- 
ring every tenth day. A confession this of the reasonableness of the &i? 
vine command! 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 185 

trampling upon his holy day, let us first put away from us "the 
accursed thing," which, like Achan, infects our camp; and 
then, and not before, may we hope for the abiding goodness 
of God to repose upon us, and for the Lord to delight him- 
self in us. 

But what are the excuses which men assign for the des- 
ecration of the Sabbath — a sin against which such mighty 
reasons lie, and the guilt of which is of so aggravated a 
hue? Let us, in conclusion, strengthen our argument by 
exposing the weakness of the opposing excuses: let us then 
resolve on no half measures, but to enter without delay 
on the full performance of our duty; let us lastly notice, 
the additional bonds we are under to consecrate the 
Sabbath, from the immense honor which God has put 
upon it by the blessings of his grace and providence in 
every age. 

I. For what are the excuses which men allege in 
extenuation of the neglect of the day of God? 

1. Do they say that "every day under the gospel is to 
be kept holy"? They say truly; but each in its own man- 
ner. The working day is kept holy, as we have already 
shown, by performing diligently the duties of our callings, 
and interweaving religious feelings and exercises therein; 
the Sabbath, by celebrating devoutly the express worship 
of God. The six days, if given up to religious acts, would 
be idleness, superstition, and tempting of God; the seventh, 
if not dedicated to them, is impiety, pride, and contempt of 
the Almighty. Nor does he who pretends the universal 
sanctity to which the Christian is called, as a palliation of 
Sunday violations, ever serve God at all. K" he knew any 
thing of that delightful employment, all his affections would 
centre on that privileged day which God has given him for 
communion with himself, and for public and private acts of 
solemn devotion. 

2. But you charge the due observation of the Sabbath 
with pharisaical strictness; you say "the demand is enthu- 
siastic, precise, puritanical, intolerable." But you forget 
then all the benignity of the blessed Savior, which swept 
away the inventions of man, and recalled the institution 
from the austerities of the scribes to its primitive simplicity; 
and you feign a severity which does not exist, except you 
consider piety as a task, the love of your Savior a yoke, 

*16 






186 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT' 

the praises of redemption gloomy, the offices of prayer and 
supplication a weariness. And this is what you really 
mean — your thin disguises conceal not your dislike to re- 
ligion and the name of Christ. We understand you. You 
are at home in the world of sin and folly, but religious re- 
pose is unwelcome. You are at ease in secular employs; 
spiritual are strange. You show then, that all is to begin 
in the business of your salvation — enter heartily upon that, 
and the Sabbath will be honored as it ought. 

3. I make a similar reply to the plea of the excessive 
hurry of affairs, of the "impossibility of finding time 
to give a whole day to religion: besides, you only violate 
the Sunday occasionally, and as you affirm, reluctant- 
ly!" The plain meaning of all which is, that worldly 
things are so important, and eternal so trivial, that six 
days are too few for the first, and one too long for the sec- 
ond. The more lawful business any Christian has, the 
more is the necessity of a thorough religious interval on 
the Sabbath increased. Every man must find time to die, 
and ought to find time for devoting to God that day 
which prepares for death. Nor does worldly business 
ever proceed so prosperously, as when subordinated to re- 
ligion. 

4. And why should I pause to refute the miserable ex- 
cuse, "that you see not that persons who go so much to 
church are better than others" — which is false in fact. 
Those who attend the house of God with any sincerity, are 
better than others; and those who do not, yet are acquiring 
habits of public reverence to the Almighty, and are kept 
out of a thousand temptations, which the breaking of the 
Sabbath would present. And if all attended the worship 
of God aright, all would become, not better than others 
would then be, but better than they now are — all would be 
true servants of God, and heirs of heaven. 

5. You have still pleas in reserve — "the immediate sac- 
rifice of your temporal interests, the rivalry of neighbors, 
the general example of persons of your trade or profession, 
the necessity of the case,— unwilling as you are to violate 
the Sabbath and ready to agree to close your shops, your 
counting-houses, your offices, if others would do the same; the 
inutility of one in a circle acting without the concurrence of 
all"— excuses which would overturn all morals and religion. 






OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 187 

and make every man a judge of his measure of obedience 
to God. If on the ground of an alleged necessity, or of 
waiting for the concert of others, we may violate an express 
command of God, where are we to stop? what command- 
ment will retain its force? Why not break the second as 
well as the fourth ? Why not plead against the sixth or 
eighth in the same strain? The very foundation of Chris- 
tian faith is to obey God rather than man. Six days' 
work with the divine blessing, is infinitely better than seven 
without. The excuse is cowardice, the fear of man, unbe- 
lief. Venture, and God will bless you. You shall be re- 
compensed a hundred-fold in this life, and "in the world to 
come shall have life everlasting." 

6. But I am interrupted by another class of objectors, 
persons of better education as they consider themselves, and 
higher advantages of station in society, who allege "that 
public worship is for the poor and uninstructed — but that 
for themselves they have less need of it — they have 
little to learn — it is enough that they venerate the Deity 
at home." Vain and miserable pretexts! Who have so 
much need of the Sabbath as those, who from pride of in- 
tellect and luxurious indulgences and vicious example, are 
ordinarily further from God and practical religion than any 
other class? They have little to learn! when they prove, 
by the very excuse, that they "know nothing yet as they 
ought to know." And is not the Lord's day designed to 
honor God, to acknowledge his benefits, to celebrate his 
praises, to implore his grace, to enjoy communion of spirit 
with him, to prepare for meeting him at the throne of judg- 
ment? And are not these obligations strong in proportion 
to the divine benefits in providence, to our dangers and 
temptations, and the influence which our example might 
have upon others? Yes, the rich and great are most of all 
bound to the sanctification of the day of God. 

II. Let us, then, cease from such wretched pleas, which 
cannot deceive ourselves, much less others, and which 
strengthen the argument they in vain attempt to evade; 
and let us enter fully and determinately on the 
religious duty of honoring God. Half measures never 
succeed in moral questions, and least of all on the Sabbath 
where the casuist is a man's own passions, and temptation 



188 IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT 

perverts the judge who has to decide. So long as half 
measures are taken, Satan and the world push their victory 
— the will remains entangled — new pleas of interruption 
are framed — every Sunday the pressure of business or the 
solicitations of pleasure are strengthened— whilst the dis- 
position to serve God is weakened. Make at once a bold 
stand, and the duty will become easy. The enemy will 
yield. Satan will be discomfited. Your worldly compan- 
ions will cease to molest. You will begin to find a pleas- 
ure in religion. God will hear your prayers. Conscience 
will be at peace. The only happy man in this world is he 
that "follows God fully." 

III. Let the immense honor which God on his 
part has been pleased to put upon the Sabbath, and 
the blessings of his grace and providence which he has 
vouchsafed on it, conclude the subject, and impress every 
heart with an additional conviction of the incalculable im- 
portance of a right observation of the Lord's day. We 
have alluded to this more than once. And well we may. 
For what an honor has God put upon this institution through- 
out the whole dispensation of the gospel? Who can 
trace out its history! Who can number the souls convert- 
ed, the graces of Christians quickened, the sorrows of the 
afflicted consoled, the influence of the Holy Spirit granted, 
the assurances of the Savior's presence vouchsafed, the ser- 
mons and prayers and sacraments rendered effectual? Fig- 
ure to yourselves what has been transacted on all the Sab- 
baths throughout all the world, since the promulgation of 
the Christian faith. You find that almost all the glory of 
Christianity has shone upon the Sabbath. You find that 
God has wrought most of his works of grace upon the Sab- 
bath. You find that the blessed Savior has been most 
glorified upon the Sabbath. You find that the Holy Spirit 
has exerted his agency most upon the Sabbath. What 
confessions of sins, what enlargements of heart, what con- 
solations of prayer, what gifts of pardon, what tokens of 
acceptance, what anticipations of heaven! The* testimony 
of God to his own day, on any one recurrence of it, confirms 
all our arguments for its inestimable value. Yes, blessed 
Sabbath, we go forth to meet thee as thou revisitest man; 
we hail thee as the court day of our Sovereign and Lord; 



OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH. 189 

we rejoice in thy return as the open throne presented 
to us for approaching our Heavenly Father; we behold 
thee as testifying of our Redeemer's resurrection — we hon- 
or thee as the peculiar province of the Holy Spirit; we 
behold thee uniting all that can interest and bless man 
— creation with all its natural benefits — redemption with 
all its remedial grace — heaven with all its consummating 
glories. 



SERMON VII. 



THE GUILT WHICH IS CONTRACTED BY CHRISTIAN 
NATIONS, IN PROPORTION AS THE LORD'S DAY IS 
OPENLY PROFANED * 



Nehemiah xiii. 17, 18. 

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto 
them, What evil is this that ye do, and profane the Sab- 
bath-day ? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our 
God bring all this evil upon us and upon this cityl 
Yet ye biding more wrath upon Israel by profaning the 
Sabbath. 

There remains yet another branch of the subject. We 
must appeal to the nation at large. We must prefer 
against it the charge of public connivance at the violation 
of the Sabbath. We must call on every one, by his faith 
as a Christian, by the reverence he feels for his Creator 
and Redeemer, by his love to his country, by his regard to 
the happiness of his neighbors and family, by his concern 
for his own eternal salvation, to do all in his power to 
awaken the public conscience, and arouse it to do its duty. 
We must declare the anger of the Lord for this great na- 
tional sin, and solemnly charge all classes of men to re- 
pent and turn unto the Lord. 

* In order to make this sermon fully applicable to our country, nothing 
is necessary but an occasional change of names and local circumstan- 
ces. — Am. Editor. 



VI0LA1 NG THE LORD'S DAY. 191 

It is true the evil is gigantic, it spreads through all orders 
of persons, it fixes itself firmly in the corruption of the hu- 
man heart. It stands, as the uncircumcised champion of 
old, and defies the armies of the living God. But we must 
rely, like David, on another power than that of man. We 
must take the word of truth. We must go forth with our 
sling and our stone, as it were, in the name of the Lord 
God of Israel, and must humbly believe that the enormous 
evil, as another Goliath, shall fall before us. 

Do thou, O Lord God Almighty, be pleased to aid us 
and all thy servants, who at this time are pleading thy 
righteous cause! Do thou enable us so to imitate thy holy 
servant Nehemiah of old, that we may set forth thy truth in 
all simplicity and fervor, that we may not fear the face of 
man, and that, accompanied and aided by thine effectual 
grace, we may witness a revival of the observation of thy 
holy day, and of the religious blessings which attend it, in 
our own land and throughout all the nations of Christen- 
dom! 

First, then, we must substantiate the charge, that our 
nation is guilty in conniving at the violation of the Lord's 
day. 

We must next show the divine judgments that may be 
justly dreaded in consequence. 

We must lastly point out the practical measures which 
each one may take towards a national repentance and 
return to God. 

I. In SUBSTANTIATING THE CHARGE ITSELF against 

the British nation, we are aware of the caution necessary, 
Having now no inspired prophets or apostles to apply au- 
thoritatively the language of Scripture, we can only form 
the best judgment we are able, from its evident scope, and 
the similar bearing of our privileges on the one hand, and 
of our conduct on the other. We must avoid all presump- 
tion, haste, self-confidence, personality. We must proceed 
on the general and undoubted grounds of revealed truth, as 
applicable to nations and individuals; and only claim atten- 
tion as we are evidently supported by that truth, and the 
plain facts of the case. 

What, then, constitutes, in a scriptural sense, national 
guilt? Is it not the prevalence of any open, flagrant viola- 
tion of the law of God, committed by large classes of men? 



192 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

Is it not the continued invention of new modes of commit- 
ting it, and additions to the numbers amongst whom it 
spreads? Is it not the countenance which the example of 
the nobles and princes of the land give to it? Is it not 
the connivance at those enormities by legislators, ministers 
of state, magistrates, clergy? Is it not the general cold- 
ness and indifference, and even scorn, with which measures 
of prevention or of remedy are received? 

And does not the violation of the Christian Sabbath in 
this country comprehend every one of these particulars? 

1. Does it not prevail amongst, large classes of 
men ? If the divine authority of that day be what we 
have shown; if the right manner of observing it be as we 
have described it; if the immense importance of a due sanc- 
tification of it be commensurate with Christianity itself; 
then what is the national guilt accumulated every day 
amongst us? Go through the different orders of society in 
our country, and, after making every allowance of the 
kindliest charity, estimate the sins committed every Sab- 
bath as it returns, by each class before the face of the 
Almighty. 

Begin with the humbler orders — the artizans, the 
laborers, the agricultural workmen, the smaller trades-peo- 
ple. How widely is Sabbath-breaking diffused! Accounts 
settled, shops opened, markets frequented, workmen paid, 
business transacted, — calmly, systematically, almost avow- 
edly. 

Consider the numbers engaged in furnishing entertain- 
ment to the violators of the Lord's day, as well as the vio- 
lators themselves. The hotels, the inns, the tea-gardens, 
the public houses, the shops and stalls for fruit and confec- 
tionary, the domestics and waiters occupied, beyond any 
plea of necessity, or any permission of the law. 

Look at the environs of London generally — the thous- 
ands poured out every Sunday into the fields and villages, 
for idleness, for pastimes, for intoxication, in open profana- 
tion of the Sabbath. Enter the unnumbered abodes for 
retailing spirituous liquors; see the formerly decent ale- 
houses converted into spirit-shops, with doors ever open to 
attract the careless youth. 

I admit that these evils are not universal amongst the 
poor — I admit that very many are still under the influence 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAT. 193 

of religion, and I bless God for it — but how few are there, 
compared with our increasing population! How vast the 
number who never regularly attend the worship of God! 
How lamentable the state of our crowded cities! 

Next examine the middle classes of our nation. How 
do multitudes of the tradesmen, the merchants, the sol- 
diers, the lawyers, the physicians and medical practition- 
ers, the private gentlemen, the retired merchants and tra- 
ders, spend the Lord's day? After a reluctant attendance 
in the house of God, where are they, and what are they 
engaged in for the remainder of the Sabbath? — I mean, 
what are too many of them engaged in; I am speaking of 
large numbers in each class, not of every individual — there 
is still a goodly remnant that serve and fear God. But as 
to the great mass, is it not the day of indulgence, the day 
of banqueting, the day of pleasurable parties as they are 
termed? What are the servants of the household occu- 
pied about? Is it not in preparing entertainments? Is 
not their labor tenfold that which the necessity of the Sab- 
bath demands, or its repose allows? 

You ascend to the gentry and nobility of our land. 
These have, alas, too generally "broken the yoke and burst 
the bonds." The law of the Sabbath is void to them. 
The day is the same as other days except as increased 
festivity dishonors and abuses it — the same irreligion, the 
same pride, the same neglect of God. In too many cases, 
large festivals are given, crowded parties assembled, an 
open infraction of decency committed. How many are 
there in public stations, where example is most widely dif- 
fused, who have regular Sunday dinners during a certain 
portion of the year! I ask if the aggregation of these 
enormities do not outstrip mere personal criminality, and 
form a distinct branch of national guilt? 

2. Then consider the continual invention of new 
modes of sabbath violation and of additional tempta- 
tions extended to new classes of persons. This marks na- 
tional guilt. The evil is on the increase. The Sunday 
Newspaper is of late invention: a few years since it was 
almost unknown — now it enlarges its fatal snares every 
year. Forty thousand copies are said to be circulated 
every Sabbath. Not content with leaving it in the hands 
of the open infidel and enemy of civil and religious order, it 
17 



194 NATIONAL GUILT OP 

has been seized by some of the avowed and clamorous friends 
of church and state, and made a channel of private calumny 
and public ridicule of all eminent virtue and piety. Sunday 
Stages are a second invention of a novel kind. They 
were some years back uniformly suspended on the Lord's 
day, that "our cattle and our servants might rest as well 
as we;" now they openly violate the decencies of public 
worship — they pass our churches during divine service — 
they detain the inn-keeper from the house of God — they 
tempt our people to venture on Sunday journeys, Vessels 
of pleasure impelled by steam, have just been added to 
the inventions of the Sabbath-breaker, and thousands are 
conveyed on the Lord's day, during the months of summer, 
to the various spots on our coast, where pleasure and dis- 
sipation may drown conscience and the remains of a pious 
education. Commercial speculations for more expedi- 
tious travelling, by means of the same process, are 
also calculated upon the supposition of regularly and sys- 
tematically profaning and tempting others to profane the 
Sabbath. Our houses of commerce, again, have been 
deserted of late years on the Lord's day by their masters, 
and are left to the discretion of clerks and shopmen, to vio- 
late the Sabbath without restraint or control. 

New classes of our people are thus pushed into the fatal 
vortex of Sunday dissipation. Each humbler order imitates 
the vices of the rank immediately above it. The example 
infects the very remotest classes. All are learning by de- 
grees to encroach upon the sanctity of the holy day of God. 
"Hand joins in hand." One encourages another. Relig- 
ious repose and rest in God as a distinct duty of Chris- 
tians, is more and more discredited; and the false notion 
that the Sabbath was ordained for what is termed innocent 
amusement, as well as for the worship of Almighty God, is 
more and more avowed. 

3. Then inquire we next into the countenance which 
the nobles and princess of our land give to this Sunday- 
violation. Much of the character of national sins arises 
from the conduct of the great, from the open avowal or dis- 
avowal of God, which they are found upon the whole to 
make. I ask, then,— with grief and shame I ask, — does 
not the prevalent example of the great go to encourage, to 
create, to render necessary in large circles of dependants, 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 195 

the open breach of the day of God? Do not they often 
profess that public worship is chiefly needful to restrain the 
common people ? Do not they avow, that religion is little 
more than a state-engine ? Does not their too general conduct 
authorize and embolden the neglect of the Lord's day, the 
omission of public worship, the frivolous engagements of 
the after division of the Sabbath, the enormous evils of 
Sunday dinners, Sunday visits, Sunday music-parties, Sun- 
day diversions? Do we not read on every Monday, the 
catalogue of the festivals, conversaziones, assemblies for 
music — sacred music, as it is profanely termed — which dese- 
crated the preceding day? And do not these evils begin 
with those of the highest rank — with nobles, ministers of 
state, princes? And does not the eye of God behold all 
this, and mark the aggravations of its guilt? Do not the 
gentry and nobility form a prominent and influential part of 
a nation in its collective capacity? Is not their example 
the standard by which thousands form their notions of mor- 
als and of Sunday obligation? 

4. But may we not, ought we not to go farther than this ? 
It is not merely countenance afforded by the great, but it is 
a sinful connivance on the part of legislators, ministers 
of state, magistrates, clergy, persons in authority, and with 
natural influence entrusted to them, which constitutes the 
real amount of national crime on this subject. If the gen- 
try, clergy, and magistracy, have used such moral power 
as God and the laws and usages of their country have 
committed to them, for the honor of the Sabbath — and 
which power they are employing daily on a thousand trifling 
topics which interest them — then there is no national guilt 
incurred in this respect. But what is the fact? Let con- 
science speak. It is to the eternal God we appeal, who is 
the searcher of every heart. Have not legislators, and 
magistrates both in their private and their collective capac- 
ity, connived, and do they not connive, at the violation of 
the holy law of the Sabbath? Do they not mock too, of- 
ten at its divine authority? Do they not shrink from avow- 
ing their reverence for religion as a spiritual subjection of man 
to the obedience of his Maker? Alas! it is too well known, 
that little of their attention can be obtained on these subjects 
—that occasions are perpetually lost for diminishing the 
evils of Sabbath-breaking — that the miserable limits of the 



196 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

three or four hours of public services are considered suffi- 
cient, in the framing of acts of parliament, for the Sab- 
bath; and all the other hours are resigned without scruple 
to the world and folly — that the too frequent excuse of 
magistrates and individual members of either House, is 
that the temper of the times will not endure religious meas- 
ures to be brought forward. Thus the influence of persons 
in authority is on the whole decidedly unfavorable; they 
discountenance spiritual religion; they refuse to put into 
execution the laws actually in force, and they decline pre- 
paring new ones — they frown on active individuals who 
would call on them to maintain the honor of the day of 
God. How was the proposal of Sunday drilling, for in- 
stance, during the late war, welcomed and admitted for a 
course of years; though the voice of bold remonstrance 
afterwards prevailed for its repeal ? How were the peti- 
tions and remonstrances early made against Sunday news- 
papers, rejected; and the later ones scorned and con- 
temned? What attention has been paid to the denial of 
the Sunday to the colonial slave, and to the atrocious evils 
of his Sunday market? How, again, do individual minis- 
ters of state, and individual magistrates, receive the ap- 
plications made for the suppression of Sabbath-breaking! 
What encouragement does the conscientious clergyman, or 
minister, or parochial officer, receive from the magistrates, 
m his attempts to check the evil? Where is there the in- 
dividual in either chamber of parliament, now ready to take 
up the question concerning the law of the Sabbath, reduce the 
existing statutes to a consistent code, and strengthen them 
with such new enactments as the change of circumstances, 
since the time of the second Charles, may require? 

5. And next allow me, as a minister of religion, to join 
in the confession of the share which I, together with my 
brethren, have borne in the guilt which we are now consid- 
ering. Too many of us, the clergy, have not sufficiently 
enforced the duty of the observation of the Sabbath: we 
have not expounded the doctrine — we have not urged the 
authority — we have not protested as we should against the 
violation— -we have not sustained by a firm example, the 
honor of this holy and most ancient of institutions — we 
have been cowardly, tame, silent, indifferent. Some of 
us have connived sinfully at the enormous mischief^—h^ve 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 197 

shrunk from measures of energy and courage — have rather 
"followed the multitude to do evil," than struggled man- 
fully, and at all hazards, against the current. 

The religious public also — who reverence and observe to 
a certain extent the Sabbath — have shared and are shar- 
ing the guilt. They listen to objections. They read the 
works which plausibly sap the divine obligations of the 
Lord's day. Their minds are poisoned. They lose that 
firm standing on which they formerly planted their feet. 
Their family habits are unfavorable. Their, own example 
is in some things dubious. The estimate which their chil- 
dren and house-holds form of the Sabbath, low. They do 
not contend boldly, in public and private, against the sin of 
dishonoring the day, as their fathers did. Compare the 
last generation of evangelical and pious Christian house- 
holds with the present — the decay is manifest — that is ; the 
national guilt is augmented. 

6. For in truth it amounts to this — let God be judge — 

THERE IS A TOO GENERAL INDIFFERENCE, COLDNESS, 

and even scorn, amongst large numbers, to the sancti- 
fication of the Lord's day, and to remedial measures ijor 
retaining its honorable observance — which stamps the 
broad mark of public connivance on the sin of Sabbath- 
breaking. Thank God, we are not so deeply sunk in this 
evil, as many of the continential nations — Thank God, 
much honor is still put upon the holy appointment — thank 
God, a remnant of devoted Christians continues to hallow it 
aright; thank God, "a pillar is raised, as it were, on the bor- 
der of the land unto the Lord." Thank God our iniquities, 
as we trust are not yet full; and a revival of deep concern 
for religion, and for the day of religion, is, as we hope, go- 
ing on. But we must still look the facts full in the face. 
Our real repentance and reformation will depend on our 
conviction of our actual delinquency. Have we, then, 
or have we not, as a people, including the classes pro- 
fessing the peculiar grace of Christ, departed from the 
Lord, in conniving and sitting calmly by, when his 
name was polluted and the Sabbath profaned? Is not 
a portion of the indifference and scorn poured upon 
this institution chargeable upon us — us the ministers of re- 
ligion — us the people of God? Would the names of re- 
proach cast upon the religious observation of the day and 
*17 



198 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

upon those who sustain it, be so keen^ so approbrious, so 
extended, if the standard of general sentiment had been 
nearer that of the Scriptures? 

Yes, brethren, as the various classes in the Jewish na- 
tion at the time of Nehemiah, had departed from their 
God, and had joined in polluting the Sabbath; so have too 
many in all classes, in our own country, departed from their 
Savior, and united, unconsciously in some cases and imper- 
ceptibly, in conniving at the violation of the Christian Sab- 
bath. 

It is time for us to return to the Lord. Steps have 
been lately taken by persons high in authority, which en- 
courage hope of improvement. Let us, then, in order to this, 

II. Consider the national judgments which we 
may too certainly dread, if we repent not. 

For nations rise and fall. A retributive justice is going 
through the world. No nation, however powerful, however 
wise, however free, however prosperous, can resist the di- 
vine arm. Where is the empire of the Babylonians, of the 
Medo-Persians, of the Grecians, of the Romans? Where 
is the power and grandeur of Alexander, Caesar, Charle- 
magne! Look over the map of Europe during the last half 
century: what nations have not been overthrown, shaken 
to their centre, visited with the most frightful calamities? 
Except our favored country, there was hardly another which 
escaped the actual sword of war. And in our own previ- 
ous annals, what scenes of bloodshed, what overthrows of 
royal houses, what civil contests, what changes do not ap- 
pear! 

I open the Bible and I see that this fall of empires is 
connected with the guilt of the different nations, and es- 
pecially of those which were the most eminently privileged. 
"You only have I known of all the nations of the earth, 
therefore will I punish you for your iniquity :"* such is the 
divine rule of proceeding. "For judgment must begin at 
the house of God, and if it first begins with us, what shall 
the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 5, | 
There is the spot where judgments first alight. "But in 
the fourth generation they shall come again, for the iniquity 
of the Amorite is not yet full;' 'J the measure is rising— 

* Amos iii. 2. t 1 Pet. iv. 17. $ Gen. xv. 16. 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 199 

the augmented mass is noted by the divine eye — iniquity, 
according to the prophetic vision, is seated within the 
ephah; the vessel fills; it is accomplished; the talent of 
lead is sealed upon its mouth, and it is transported from 
its place to the scene of visitation. * 

Do I want specific examples? I look to Sodom and Go- 
morrah and the cities of the plain, "suffering the vengeance 
of eternal fire."f I behold the old world "filled with vio- 
lence and having corrupted its ways, till the flood came 
and destroyed them all. "J I look on the nations of Ca- 
naan, "that are sinners before the Lord exceedingly, and 
the land cannot contain them."§ 

But mark, above all, the history of the favored people 
— the inheritance, the peculiar treasure of the Lord, the 
kingdom of priests. And what is that history? The As- 
syrian king is sent against them when hypocritical and de- 
generate — "he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think 
so" — but he is "the axe" in the hand of the divine work- 
man, to execute his holy will against the guilty people. 
And what was the captivity and dispersion of the ten 
tribes, and what the seventy years' bondage of the two in 
Babylon, but punishments for national guilt? 

And why should England presume? Why should her 
capital, her commerce, her armies, her fleets, her power 
and influence, elate her with pride? What are all these 
but talents entrusted to her for certain ends? What is the 
weight of responsibility which presses upon her in conse- 
quence? What is the aggravation which all these bless- 
ings add to her sins against God ? For wherefore has God 
given her these distinctions, but that she may diffuse the 
divine glory, exhibit the conduct of a righteous nation, up- 
hold the honor of pure Christianity, vindicate the majesty 
of the Lord's day, educate her population in sound religion, 
and propagate the gospel at home and abroad? If she 
neglect all these high ends and be filled with vanity and 
contempt of God, what judgment may she not expect? 
What is she more than Nineveh-, Tyre, Babylon? Her 
naval power is perhaps not greater, in proportion to the 
existing state of the world, her commerce is not more ex- 
tended, her riches are not more abundant, her prosperity 

* Zechariah v. 6—11. t Jude 7. 

t Gen. vi. 12. § Numb. xxxv. 33. 



200 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

is not more elevated, than the ships, and commerce, and 
glory, and prosperity of Tyre were in her day ? 

Consider, then, the judgment which England may rea- 
sonably dread, in proportion to the duty which she violates 
— in proportion to her knowledge of the Bible — in propor- 
tion to her pure Protestant form of Christianity — in propor- 
tion to the strength of the arguments on which the divine 
authority and perpetual obligation of the Lord's day re- 
pose — in proportion to her means of estimating these ar- 
guments, and detecting the contrary error. Reflect how 
every such consideration should aggravate the fear which 
penetrates us, of the awful displeasure of God for our pol- 
lution of the Sabbath. 

Then what, England, is thy guilt before thy God ? A 
sin like this, against a command so authoritative, so easy 
of performance, so beneficial, marks thy temper as a na- 
tion as it respects God. The sins committed against thy 
fellow-creatures are of another character. The duties of 
property andjife, the duties concerning common truth and 
honesty, are bound upon thee by thy immediate secular 
interests — society cannot hold together for a moment 
without them. But the duties of the Sabbath are a test 
of the real measure of thy faith and reverence towards Al- 
mighty God. They show how far thou earnest thy re- 
ligion into practice. They prove whether or not thy ad- 
missions of the authority of God are sincere. Estimate, 
then, the guilt which all thy Sabbaths, England, have been 
heaping upon thine head. Estimate the contempt, the neg- 
lect of God, the declension of heart from his fear, the har- 
dy and obstinate resistance to his will, the slight put upon 
his immediate majesty and honor, which thy conduct in- 
volves. The closing denunciations against the apocalyptic 
churches, will be applicable to thee, if thou continuest to 
imitate those declining bodies. Fear the removal of thy 
candlestic, the silencing of thy preachers, the dispersion of 
thy assemblies, the obscuring of thy peace, the loosening 
of the frame of society — counsels bewildered — commerce 
paralysed — union broken — disorder and contention sown — 
tumult and insurrection bursting forth — thy king, thy prin- 
ces, thy nobles given up to infatuation — thy enemies made 
to triumph — thy name and place a proverb amongst the na- 
tions. Consider, these are but the beginning of sorrows. 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 201 

Where is Sardis, and Pergainos, and Thyatira, and Eph- 
esus, and Laodicea ? Swept with the besom of destruction 
— effaced from the memory of the church — exhibited as 
monuments of divine indignation. And why? "They left 
their first and fervent love; they did not their first works; 
they had a name to live, but were dead; they were neither 
cold nor hot; they defiled their garments." And what art 
thou doing in thy levity, thy profanation of the Lord's day, 
thy contempt of religion, but imitating those very sins, which 
brought down these exterminating judgments ? 

And how soon these chastisements may fall, God only 
knows. We dive not into his secret counsels; we venture 
not to penetrate his purposes. But thou hast every reason 
to fear. Around the profanation and contempt of the Sab- 
bath, are gathered all the accompanying sins of neglect of 
the gospel, self-righteousness, cruelty and inhumanity to 
the colonial slave, an infidel and sceptical temper — the 
Bible contemned, Christianity dishonored. The violation 
of God's day is the symptom, not the disease. It is an 
indication of the inward pride, impurity, vanity, self-con- 
fidence, provocations of the Almighty, which are filling 
up the measure of thine iniquities. Thou art again warn- 
ed. The voice of mercy and of expostulation is lifted up, 
Listen, then, ere it be too late. Attend, ye princes, and 
nobles, and bishops and clergy, and magistrates, and gen- 
try. Listen, governors and legislators of the land. Re- 
ceive the divine call. Repentance is not now too late. 
Punishments may be averted or mitigated. "The Lord's 
voice crieth in the city, and the man of wisdom will hear 
thy voice; know ye the rod, and who hath appointed it."* 

And this brings us to point out, 

III. The practical measures, which each one 

MAY ADOPT, TO PROMOTE A NATIONAL REPENTANCE AND 
RETURN TO GOD. 

For this is the question after all. What is to be done? 
Whither are we to direct our steps? How can we fully 
return unto the Lord? — By inquiring how other nations ex- 
pressed their penitence; how the reformations took place 
in the time of Samuel, and Hezekiah, and Jehoshaphat; 
how the revivals were effected under Augustine in the 

* Micah vi. 9. 



202 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

fourth century, Claudius of Turin in the ninth, Peter Waldo 
in the twelfth, and Wickliffe in the century which follow- 
ed: how the glorious reformation from Popery in the six- 
teenth century was begun and established? — Each individ- 
ual Christian reformed himself: fervent prayer was offered 
for the Holy Spirit; bold, decisive appeals were made to 
the consciences of the people; princes and magistrates were 
led to listen to the counsel of devoted and enlightened min- 
isters; shame and persecution were cheerfully endured for 
the cause of Christ; an unflinching protest was entered 
against the sins which remained; humiliation of soul under 
past transgressions, and hope in the divine mercy for future 
deliverance and ultimate triumph, were exercised. Let 
such, then, be our course now. 

1. Let EACH ONE REFORM HIMSELF, HIS FAMILY, HIS 

own circle. This is the first step. Here we are sure 
our efforts will be successful: we begin at home. The min- 
isters of the sanctuary should lead the way. The holy 
Sabbath has much to complain of in us. Reverence it 
more, ye preachers and stewards of Christ, sanctify it 
more. Study its authority more. Watch against unfavor- 
able habits more. Let your own conduct, and that of your 
families, give a more decided testimony to the Lord, and 
to his blessed day. Heads of families, begin each one for 
yourselves: the Almighty Redeemer demands it of you. 
Look on your present course; correct, amend, what is 
amiss. Be not ashamed of confessing past error. Magis- 
trates, propose a better example; execute the laws of which 
you are the guardians. Awake to your first duties, the 
worshipping and glorifying of your God. Merchants, "buy 
the truth, and sell it not;" close your offices and counting- 
houses on the Sabbath; refuse the unholy gain which Satan 
offers. Tradesmen, farmers, artizans, consecrate your 
labors to "the Lord of the whole earth." Servants, clerks, 
dependents, honor the Savior on the days which he allows 
you as the period of rest, peace, composure. Too long 
have you obeyed the world, the flesh, and Satan; now God 
calls you to repentance and consideration. Each individual 
reformation will go to form the national return to duty which 
we are pressing upon you. This is the first measure. Let 
every one into whose hands these pages may fall, examine 
and reform himself. 



VIOLATING THE LORD 5 S DAY. 203 

2. And let fervent prayer for the grace of the Holy 
Spirit be offered up. God alone can effectually do the 
work. All doctrine is vain, without the operations of his 
Spirit. The fundamental truths of the gospel, the glorious 
perfections and excellencies of God, the value of the soul, 
the inestimable worth of redemption, the necessity of a 
spiritual and heartfelt religion, of separation from the world, 
and communion with the Father of spirits, are unknown, 
till the Spirit touch and quicken the heart. If we rely on 
our arguments and proofs merely, we shall never succeed. 
What are demonstrations of the authority and obligation 
of the Christian Sabbath, to him who is dead in sin, care- 
less upon the subject of his salvation, and wedded to his 
worldly companions? The heart of man has reasons against 
all persuasions of theology; the reasons of evil inclination, 
previous choice, corrupt habit, perverted associations of 
thought. Prayer, then, for the mercy of God, is essential 
to success. Then Babel is deserted; then the walls of 
Jericho fall flat; then Dagon is overthrown before the ark; 
then Babylon opens her gates of brass: then the human 
heart yields to truth. And when the new and divine life 
begins in the soul, the Sabbath becomes the natural, the 
important privilege of the new-born Christian. He re- 
joices in the interval from the duties of this lower world: 
his food, his joy, his restoration are in the ordinances of 
God. Let the gracious Spirit be granted to fervent, united 
prayer, and things will soon revive — the desert will burst 
out with new bloom — the wills of men will be swayed — the 
Sabbath will re-appear in its mild dignity — the young will 
reverence, the old rejoice in the day of God. The minis- 
ters of Christ will see unwonted audiences thronging around 
them — fresh and deeper-toned devotion will preside. Na- 
tional penitence for misused Sabbaths will appear in the 
very cry for mercy which will ascend to heaven — and from 
the sanctification of them in future, every temporal and 
spiritual blessing will germinate. 

3. As this proceeds, and in order to advance it, bold 
and decisive appeals must be addressed to the con- 
sciences of the people. The adversary must not be allowed 
to sow tares unmolested. Plain and popular statements, 
adapted to the comprehension of the different classes of 
men, must be made — addresses from the pulpit, from the 



204 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

press— addresses in the form of argument, and in the way 
of appeal and persuasion — short treatises must be widely 
diffused — the heart must be touched. Thus the circle of 
truth must be widened. The efforts of a false and spurious 
religion must be defeated, and God honored amongst the 
people. A national feeling in favor of the Lord's day, can 
only be expected from a revival, distinct and uncompromis- 
ing, of the national conscience. Each one must use the 
talents entrusted to him by the great Householder. The 
artful sophistry which assails the divine authority of the 
Sabbath, must be detected; the false reasonings exposed. 
Truth must be manifested and sustained — not indeed with 
affected eloquence, not with artificial ornaments of speech, 
not with an overstrained or scrupulous pertinacity of debate; 
but in simplicity, in openness of heart; neither relaxing the 
spiritual demands of the Sabbath, nor overrating the rela- 
tive magnitude of this particular branch of the public guilt. 
Thus will God bless our nation; thus will the holy day be 
re-established in its authority and grace. 

4. Princes and magistrates will not be long before 
they listen to the voice of faithful and enlightened ministers. 
Legislators and statesmen, and nobles, will hear the voice 
of truth. In the progress of a general revival, this has 
been God's method. He has raised up persons of author- 
ity, and guided their minds by the wisdom and counsels of 
well-informed and devoted ministers of Christ, in the affairs 
relating to the worship of God, and the souls of men. In- 
stead of false teachers, corrupt ecclesiastics, proud and 
worldly-minded priests — men who have domineered, or 
fawned, as their interests and power permitted; and, sur- 
rounding princes and magistrates, have flattered them to 
their ruin; God blesses his servants with pious and simple 
hearted bishops and ministers, who understand the Scrip- 
tures, who know the value of the Sabbath, who distinguish 
the true welfare of government, who discern and admit the 
claims of God upon princes and rulers. With such aids, 
the secular magistrates will decree righteous statutes, the 
parliament will be swayed by sound religion, the measures 
needful for protecting the worship of God, will be taken, 
the oppression and insults of the profane will be redressed, 
the open and national violation of God's Sabbaths will be 
prohibited, the decent and devout order of a Christian land 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 205 

will be preserved. These aids from without, conspiring 
with the influence of grace within the church, will produce 
the desired result. The nation will return to the Lord. 
The Sabbath will be again "the sign of God's covenant, 
that he is the Lord that doth sanctify us;" and all other 
Christian virtues and habits will follow. 

5. But this cannot be expected to be brought about, in 
a world like ours, without much of that previous re- 
proach and contumely, which have always attended 
the progress of a really spiritual reformation. Nothing 
disturbs and offends the world so much as the Lord's day 
strongly urged. The leaders must be content to receive 
the treatment which their Lord and Savior received before 
them. And this deters the merely well-disposed part of 
mankind: they shrink from decisive steps, for fear of shame 
and names of contempt. The term Lollard, at one period, 
of Wickliffite, Lutheran, Puritan, Methodist, Calvinist, at 
others, have been a successful instrument in Satan's hands, 
of alarming the timid, and securing his hold of the worldly. 
Against such opposition, (even if it were to rise to perse- 
cution,) the Christian minister and hero must be ready to 
stand. He must disregard the honor of men, that he may 
obtain the favor of God: he must be proof against these 
assaults: he must be willing to risk his name, his charac- 
ter, his reputation, for his Savior. The holy Sabbath must 
be dedicated, consecrated, reverenced, under whatever re- 
proaches he may have to labor, who asserts its claims. As 
national reformation advances, these very men, once cast 
out and scorned, will become the objects of veneration, their 
counsels be prized, and their persons loved and esteemed. 

6. Still much will remain unredressed, amidst the wrongs 
of the Sabbath — at least, for a considerable period — many 
great evils may be expected to survive and struggle — the 
spiritual church, if it gain, by the mercy of God, much, 
must reckon upon being discomfited in certain respects. 
— She must, then, protest boldly and fearlessly 

AGAINST THE SINS WHICH ARE PERSISTED IN. Nothing 

honors God more than the confession of his truth, which 
his faithful servants make, when they are unable to suc- 
ceed fully in their honest endeavors. A body of devoted 
followers of Christ, allowed to preach his truth in the world, 
and entering their open protest against flagrant evils, is a 
18 



206 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

token for good in a country, of the most hopeful character, 
God never gives up a nation to his desolating judgments, 
when there is a considerable number of worshippers, thus 
averring their allegiance, and crying out aloud against the 
dishonor done unto his name and Sabbaths. 

7. Lastly, humiliation for past transgressions, 

AND HOPE IN THE DIVINE MERCY FOR FUTURE DELIV- 
ERANCE and ultimate triumph, are the dispositions of 
heart which we would most cultivate. After we have done 
all, we shall leave much, very much to be humbled and 
abased for before our God; and our hope must be reposed, 
not in man, but in his power, mercy, and grace. The holy 
Sabbath, which, as a nation and as individuals, we have 
abused in times past, the dishonor we have done to him and 
to God thereby, the loss to our own souls which has fol- 
lowed, the injury to the spiritual welfare of others which 
has been occasioned, the slight put upon the blessed Spirit 
of grace, are topics of deep sorrow and penitential confes- 
sion before God. To humble ourselves under his awful ma- 
jesty, to deprecate his wrath, to accept the punishment of 
our iniquity; this is the way to obtain mercy; this will 
bring back our people as the heart of one man, to the 
Lord; this will prepare us for all the holy duties of our 
Sundays, and all the communion with God which they bring 
with them. 

Thus our hope will be placed in the unmerited grace of 
God, for deliverance and triumph; we shall wait his holy 
will; we shall expect and look for his powerful succor, we 
shall despair of nothing under his mighty protection; we 
shall rejoice in the sanctification of his day, the conversion 
of souls, the consolation and edification of his faithful ser- 
vants, the pledge and anticipation of heaven. 

Having now completed our original design in these ser- 
mons; having established the divine obligation of a weekly 
Sabbath in the first four, and the practical duties arising 
from it in the last three of the series; 

Let us in conclusion of the whole, remark, 
I. That it is not for the Sabbath in itself that we have 
been pleading in the course of this work, but the sabbath 
as a means to certain ends, as the channel and con- 
veyance of the waters of life, as the standing institution for 
the declaration of God's glory, of the Savior's resurrection, 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 207 

the rest of heaven; as the moment of calm granted for ra- 
tional and irrational creatures to breathe from toil, and 
recruit their exhausted powers; as the needful interval of 
repose and cessation to a feeble creature like man; as the 
appointed period for the instruction and salvation of souls; 
as the most visible representation of our faith in our Maker 
and Benefactor, and the grand peculiarity of revealed re- 
ligion. 

Let then this thought ever be present with us. It is for 
no inferior matter we have pleaded; it is for no external 
and formal point; no ceremony; no superstition — we teach 
not that u man was made for the Sabbath" — we should 
never be contented with any observation of it which was 
merely decorous, constrained, reluctant. We plead for the 
simplest and noblest institution of the religion of the Bible, 
which includes and embraces within its range every other. 
We plead for the most important means of grace and in- 
struction, which is the platform upon which every other is 
erected. We plead for the highest testimony man can bear 
to the glory of God; in which the praise of creation, of 
redemption, of eternal happiness is united. We plead for 
the most merciful of all the divine appointments, which 
suspends the struggle of nature, and bids all creation 
repose, and refresh itself from its labor and toil. 

Let us not, then, undervalue, or misunderstand the sub- 
ject we have been treating. We have not been drivelling 
about a questionable, an indifferent, a secondary duty. 
We have pleaded the cause of God, the interests of man, 
the peace of the world, the instruction of the poor, the 
knowledge of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, the hope of 
heaven. We have treated the greatest question in all the 
compass of practical theology, because it provides for every 
other duty, lies at the foundation of every other duty, gives 
space and time for every other duty, derives the divine 
blessing upon every other duty. 

II. We have been pleading, in the next place, for these 
ends of the Christian Sabbath, because of the unspeak- 
able value of the soul of man. For what is the 
gist of all we have argued? — that the soul of man is so 
noble, so precious, so inestimable in the eyes of God, so 
endless in its future state of happiness or misery, that a 
seventh portion of all man's time is taken out from ordin- 



208 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

ary employments to be dedicated to this his immortal part. 
Yes, the Sabbath proclaims the responsibility of man, the 
unfathomable and inexpressible value of his soul, the price 
put upon it by the Father of spirits, the dignity and capac- 
ities which it possesses. The Sabbath unites man with 
spiritual objects, connects him with his invisible Creator, 
Redeemer, Friend; teaches him what he is, and whither 
he is going. It is for the soul, then, that we have been 
pleading, that it may be blessed with the salutary knowl- 
edge of its fall and its recovery, of its sin and its remedy, 
of its guilt and condemnation in the first Adam, and its 
pardon and acceptance in the second. 

Let the importance of our subject be measured by this 
standard. Let all the souls of all the race of men be 
brought before our view, and let all the unutterable happi- 
ness of each of those souls be weighed and balanced; and 
then let the value of that pay be estimated, when the 
means of the repose, consolation, guidance, illumination, 
pardon, holiness, salvation, of all these immortal minds are 
congregated and concentrated — when all the love of God 
our heavenly Father, all the grace of God the Son, and all 
the operations of God the Holy Ghost, are poured forth 
and brought into effect. It is this sublime thought which 
elevates the topic we have been considering. The violation 
of the Sabbath sinks, degrades, materializes, destroys the 
soul of man; the observation of it raises, honors, spiritual- 
izes, saves it. If the Lord's day be annihilated, religion 
fades away, secular pursuits bewilder man, the bodily ap- 
petites prevail, the knowledge of salvation is lost, the soul 
wanders wretched and ignorant, wayward and distressed, 
without a teacher, without a hope, without a refuge. The 
holy day sheds its gentle rays upon the lost traveller, sends 
religion to his succor, interrupts the din of false alarms, 
recals him from the clamor of passion to the soft voice of 
conscience, gives him the knowledge of salvation, satisfies 
all his doubts, soothes his distresses, becomes his comforter 
and guide to a heavenly and eternal rest. 

III. But we have pleaded, further, for the Christian 
Sabbath— thus valuable from its combination of means 
bearing upon the welfare of the soul of man — because it 

APPEALS PLAINLY AND FULLY TO THE HUMAN CON- 

science 5 and puts in its claims upon every reasonable and 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 209 

accountable being*, on the footing of its own divine institu- 
tion and authority. 

Truth cannot be trifled with. Men may turn away from 
any statement of it. They may cavil. They may object 
to this or that particular argument. They may set up the 
sophisms of controversialists. But conscience cannot be 
thus silenced. The broad undeniable truth is, that a day 
of weekly rest has ever accompanied revealed religion un- 
der every dispensation of it. A Sabbath was celebrated 
even before the fall. A Sabbath forms a part of God's 
moral law. A Sabbath is insisted upon by the prophets. 
A Sabbath was observed by our Lord and his apostles. A 
Sabbath has been kept in every church, in every part of 
the world, in every age since. To cavil, then, at minute 
omissions in the history of it, or petty difficulties in the de- 
tails of its progress, is worse than folly; it is dishonesty 
to truth. Nor can we escape the responsibility which at- 
taches to knowledge proffered and sat before us. There 
stands the institution. Great efforts have been made to 
impress its obligation upon the public mind. Discussions, 
sermons, treatises, tracts, have been circulated. Public j 
meetings have been convened, and resolutions passed to 
enforce the better observance of the day. The public con- 
science has been aroused. God has given us a call, a 
special call to repent. If we refuse the call, "if we turn 
away from him that speaketh from heaven," if we "stop 
our ears," if "we harden our hearts," what can we expect 
but to be given up to a reprobate mind, and left to our own 
folly and presumption? With conscience, then, is the case 
left — to this inward vicegerent of the Almighty is our ap- 
peal. At its tribunal stands our cause to be adjudged. 
Let every one, then, yield to its sentence. Let every one 
bow to the voice and decree of this witness, judge, avenger. 
Let conscience stimulate us to hallow the Christian Sab- 
bath, that coming within the sphere of the means of grace, 
we may actually learn the value of our souls, and the way 
of salvation for ourselves. 

But, lastly, we have pleaded for the Sabbath, because 
it is an indispensable preparation for the heavenly 
blessedness. Its appeal to the human conscience termi- 
nates here. Heaven or hell is at stake. We all profess 
to look for a heavenly rest. There are few, perhaps none, 



210 NATIONAL GUILT OF 

who do not desire and expect to pass to a happy eternity 
when they die. Their ideas of its nature may be obscure, 
their preparations for it may be most defective. Still a 
vague hope of it, as opposed to eternal misery, and under 
the idea of a state of repose and felicity, occupies most 
minds. But let us consider the strict connection which sub- 
sists between the employments and delights of the Sabbath 
upon earth, and those of that endless and beatific Sabbath 
which u remains for the people of God" at last. Do we 
recollect the descriptions given in the Bible, of the company, 
the praises, the spiritual and unceasing employs of that ex- 
alted place? Is it a carnal repose which it offers? Is it 
bodily indulgence ? Is it mere cessation from toil and sor- 
row? Is it not the eternal presence, the eternal enjoyment, 
the eternal paises of our God, and the Redeemer? Open 
the heavenly gates. You see the worshippers. You hear 
their hymns. What do they chaunt? The praises of "the 
Lamb that was slain;" "the love of him who died for 
them;" the majesty, and wisdom, and power, and glory, of 
their Father and Lord. And what is the temper of mind, 
what the habits, the notions of happiness, what the moral 
condition which can derive felicity from such an employ? 
It is an employ of continual holiness, ceaseless adoration, 
perpetual activity in the service of God. The loose ideas 
formed of heaven, as an exemption from suffering merely, 
as standing only in opposition to fatigue and weariness, as 
being contrasted with misery and condemnation — are most 
delusive. It is holiness — it is the love of God — it is the 
worship of the Lamb that was slain — it is the resting not 
day nor night in the praises of the Almighty — it is felicity 
derived from the completion of the divine faculties and 
habits acquired in this world. 

Observe, then, the connection of the Sabbath-duties here 
on earth, with these ultimate and consummated duties of 
the eternal Sabbath above. The employments of the day 
here are holiness, the adoration of God in Christ, the 
praises of creating, redeeming love. The Sabbath is the 
day of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit; that is, it is 
the very same in essence with the heavenly Sabbath; has 
the same objects, the same joys, the same praises, the same 
gratitude, the same sources of happiness. 



VIOLATING THE LORD'S DAY. 211 

He that would prepare for heaven, must honor the Sab- 
bath upon earth. He that would hope for the spiritual 
joys there, must acquire a taste and aptitude for them here. 

All is connected in the divine plan. The Sabbath of 
the church militant is the pledge and foretaste of the Sab- 
bath of the church triumphant. Were we in heaven with- 
out a new nature, a change of heart, a delight in the wor- 
ship of God, an earnest longing after Christ, an acquies- 
cence in holiness — we should neither derive happiness from 
it, nor be capable of its employments. They who argue 
against our feeble, preparatory Sabbaths; they who object, 
cavil, contemn; they who prefer every other employment to 
the worship of God; they who complain of weariness and 
satiety in the services of Christ — have an evidence in their 
own breasts of their unfitness for a heavenly world — they 
are condemned out of their own mouths. The louder they 
exclaim against our Lord's day and its duties, the more 
decidedly do they exclude themselves from the Christian 
character and the Christian hope. 

Let us, then, awake to the truth of the case. The day 
of Sabbath made and constituted for man, is essential to 
all his moral duties and hopes — it seals his evidence for a 
heavenly world — it prepares him for its joys and its em- 
ployments — it forms its harbinger and foretaste. 

The Sabbath will, therefore, never cease till it be ful- 
filled in the kingdom of God. As other figures and em- 
blems terminated not till the substance of them came; so 
will not this grand type and foretaste of the ultimate repose 
of eternity, be determined, till earth gives place to heaven. 

Let it again be remembered that we disclaim every thing 
harsh, uncommanded, ceremonial — we disclaim the Jewish, 
and much more the Pharisaical observances — we say with 
our Savior, a not man for the Sabbath;" we follow also 
with delight the change of the day of celebration, authorized 
by "the Lord of the Sabbath." But all this only leaves 
the grand, fundamental principle more strong and clear. — 
"The Sabbath was made for man," to give him repose and 
religious peace, to give him time for the worship and ado- 
ration of God on earth; to be the solemn guarantee and 
type of his last rest; and to prepare and introduce him to 
the joy and ceaseless adorations of that glorious state. 
The Sabbath is man's privilege, interest, duty. The Sab- 



212 NATIONAL GUILT. 

bath is the glory of his religion, the highest exercise of his 
rational nature, the bond and link which connects him with 
all that is spiritual, all that is holy, all that is divine on 
earth; and which then transmits him to that exalted scene 
of eternal, and perfect, and uninterrupted spirituality, holi- 
ness, and blessedness in heaven, for which he was created 
■ — and to which, may God be pleased to bring the writer 
and every reader of these pages through his infinite mercy 
in Jesus Christ our Lord! 



The Publishers of this ivork at No. 47, Wash- 
ington Street, Boston, and 182 Broadway 
New York, have recently published and for 
sale — 

Dr. ScoWs Famihj Bible, in 6 vols, royal octavo, 
wit all the Notes, Practical Observations, Marginal Re- 
ferences, and Critical Remarks, as in the most approv- 
ed London edition, in boards, sheep, calf, and Russia 
bindings. 

Worcester'' s Watt's Psalms and Hymns, with 236 Select 
Hymns from various authors, and direction for musical ex- 
pression; large, common, and pocket sizes, various bind- 
ings. 

Butterworth? s Concordance to the Holy Scriptures, be- 
ing the most comprehensive and concise of any before pub- 
lished; in which not only any word or passage of Scripture 
can be easily found, but the signification also is given of all 
proper names mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. A new 
Stereotype edition with considerable improvements, by Adam 
Clarke, LL. D. 1 vol. 8vo. 

Elements of Mental and Moral Science, designed to 
exhibit the Original Susceptibilities of the Mind, and the 
Rule by which the Rectitude of any of its States or Feel- 
ings should be judged. By George Payne, A. M. 1 vol. 
8vo. 

Dr. Griffin's Lectures. — Cheap Edition. A Series of 
Lectures delivered in Park Street Church, Boston, on Sab- 
bath evening. By Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D. D. 
Third edition, revised and corrected. 1 vol. 12mo. 

The Preacher's Manual, Second Edition, with additions. 
By Rev. E. Porter, D. D., of Andover Theological Sem- 
inary. 1 vol. 8vo. 



Books for Sale at 47 Washington St< Boston, 

Memoirs of Mrs. Susan Huntington, of Boston, Mass.; 
compiled from her Diary and Letters, with the Sermon 
occasioned by her death. By Benjamin B. Wisner, 
D. D., Pastor of the Old South Church, Boston. Third 
edition, with an Introductory Essay, and an Original Poem, 
by James Montgomery, Esq., author of "the Christian 
Psalmist," "World before the Flood," &c, with a Por- 
trait. 1 vol. 12mo. 

The Assistant to Family Religion, in six parts. By 
William Cogswell, A. M., Pastor of the South Church 
in Dedham. Second edition. 

The Theological Class Book, containing a complete 
System of Divinity. By Rev. William Cogswell, 
author of "the Assistant to Family Religion." 1 vol. 18mo. 

The Course of Time, a Poem in ten books, by Rev. 
Robert Pollok, A. M. To which are prefixed a brief Me- 
moir of the Author, an Analysis of the Poem, in an argu- 
ment of each respective book, and an Index to the principal 
passages, sentiments or descriptions. By Rev. William 
Jenks, D. D. 1 vol. 12mo. 

The Family Monitor, or a Help to Domestic Happiness, 
By John Angell James, author of "Christian Father's 
Present," "Sunday School Teacher's Guide," &c. 1 vol. 
12mo. Second Boston Edition, with a Likeness of Rev. 
Mr. James. 

Letters from Europe, in 1828, by Rev. William B. 
Sprague, of West Springfield, Mass. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Char- 
acter. By Gardiner Spring, D.D. New Edition, revised, 
improved and enlarged. 

With erf ore eh Practical View of Christianity. A Prac- 
tical view of the Prevailing Religious Systems of Professed 
Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes, in this 
country, contrasted with Real Christianity. By Wil- 
liam Wilberforce, Esq,. — With an Introductory Essay, 
by Rev. Daniel Wilson, A. M., Vicar of Islington. 

Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance, by John Fos- 
ter, author of "Essays on Decision of Character," &c. 

Dr. Chalmer^s Discourses on the application of Chris- 
tianity to the Commercial and Ordinary Affairs of Life. 



and at 182 Broadway, New York. 

Christian Chanty Explained, or the Influence of Relig- 
ion upon Temper stated, in an Exposition of the Thirteenth 
Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, by John 
Angell James, author of "Christian Father's Present," 
&.c. 1 vol. 12rao. 

The Communicant's Companion, By Rev. Matthew 
Henry. A new edition, containing an Introductory Essay, 
by Rev. J. Brown. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Lowitfs Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, a new edition with 
Notes, by Calvin E. Stowe. The present edition 'of this 
celebrated work is reprinted from the translation of Greg- 
ory, excepting that in the specimens of Hebrew Poetry the 
spirited and elegant Latin translations of Lowth, are re- 
tained instead of those which have been substituted by his 
English Editor. In the English editions of these Lectures, 
there are four different sets of notes, namely, those of 
Lowth, Michaelis, Gregory, and Henley. Such a diver- 
sity of annotators occasions considerable confusion and per- 
plexity to the student; and some of the notes, particularly 
those of Gregory and Henly, are of little value in the pres- 
ent advanced state of Biblical study. In this edition all 
the important observations of the writers above mentioned, 
together with the results of the more recent investigations 
of Herder, Eichhorn, Sir William Jones, Rosenmueller, 
De Wette, and others are embodied in one regular series 
of notes, and inserted at the end of the volume, occupying 
about one hundred and sixty pages. 

Annals of the Poor-, containing the Dairyman's Daugh- 
ter, the Negro Servant, the Young Cottager, the Cottage 
Conversation and a Visit to the Infirmary. By the Rev. 
Legh Richmond, A. M. A new Edition, enlarged, with 
an Introductory Sketch of the Author, by the Rev. John 
Ayre, A. M. Embellished with elegant engravings, taken 
from scenes described in the work, and made from drawings 
taken under direction of the author. In rich and elegant 
Bindings. 

The Evidences of Christianity', stated in a popular 
and practical manner in a Course of Lectures, on the 
External and Interned Evidences of the Christian Relig- 
ion, delivered in the Parish Church of St. Mary Islington. 
By Rev. Daniel Wilson A. M. Vicar. 2 vols. 



Books for Sale at 47 Washington St. Boston, 

Mental Discipline] or, Hints on the Cultivation of In- 
tellectual and Moral Habits; addressed particularly to 
Students in Theology and young Preachers. By Henry 
Foster Burder, M. A. From the Third London edition, 
considerably enlarged. To which is appended, an Address 
on Pulpit Eloquence. By Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D. 
Also a Course of Study in Christian Theology, by Rev. 
Leonard Woods, D. D. 

Course of Hebrew Study adapted to the use of begin- 
ners. By Moses Stuart, Associate Professor of Sacred 
Literature in the Theological Seminary, Andover. Vol. II. 

Memoir of the Rev. Edward Payson, D. D. late Pas- 
tor of the Second Church in Portland, Me. A new edition, 
revised, amended, and enlarged. By Rev. Asa Cum- 

mings, Editor of the Christian Mirror. Embellished with 
a Likeness. 

The Life and Times of Rev. Richard Baxter, with a 
Critical Examination of his Writings. By the late Rev. 
Wm. Orme, author of Memoirs of Owen, Bibliotheca 
Biblica, and one of the Secretaries of the London Mis- 
sionary Society. With a full and carefully compiled Index. 
2 vols. 8vo. 

Observations upon the Peloponessus and Greek Islands 7 
made in 1829. By Rufus Anderson, one of the Secreta- 
ries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions. With a Map adapted to the work. 

Conversations on Vegetable Physiology, comprehending 
the Elements of Botany, with their Application to Agri- 
culture. By the Author of Conversations on Chemistry 
and Natural Philosophy. Adapted to the use of Schools, 
by Rev. J. L. Blake, A. M. Embellished with Plates. 

Provincial Letters, containing an exposure of the Rea- 
soning and Morals of the Jesuits. By Blaise Pascal. 
Originally published unde the name of Louis de Montalte. 
Translated from the French. To which is added a View 
of the History of the Jesuits, and the late Bull for the 
Revival of the Order in Europe. 

Memoir of Rev. Pliny Fish, A. M. late Missionary to 
Palestine. By Alvan Bond, Pastor of the Congrega- 
tional Church in Sturbridge, Mass. 1 vol. 12mo. 






Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 654 867 2 % 



1 



